The Heroes' Divergent Paths
by Lost Idea Alchemist
Summary: Two siblings. Both left behind by their parents, both looked after by the same man, and both willing to follow that man's ideals. And yet... those two could not be more different. Multi-crossover.
1. The Two Emiya Siblings

And here we go, for the 100th time... ok, for the fifth time. It's a new story, this time a cross-over between Fairy Tail and the TYPE-MOON universe (elements of Fate/Zero and Tsukihime). Just like TSCM, this story features a strong Lucy, but apart from that it's completely different.

NOTE: For the purposes of this story, the time line has been adjusted. The events of Tsukihime happened several years before the Fourth Holy Grail War, not during the Fifth War. Also, Ultear will be younger than in canon. Much younger. You'll see why.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail, Fate/Zero, Fate/Stay Night, or Tsukihime.

* * *

The former Magus Killer exhaled smoke heavily and sighed. "I'm sorry, _what_?"

"Like I said." Shiki Tohno looked visibly uncomfortable. "Somehow Roa has reincarnated again. Arcueid is going to go after him, and I'm tagging along to help out. It went rather well last time, after all."

"And what does this have to do with me?"

Shiki motioned for a nine-year-old blond girl to step forward. "Arcueid and I have decided to ask you to watch over our daughter Lucy during our absence. Seeing as you recently took in that surviving boy from the Fuyuki fire, we thought you'd be less opposed to the idea than the pre-war you would have been."

Kiritsugu looked amused. "The two of you are barely acquaintances of mine. Just because I helped Arcueid out when Ciel was Roa's reincarnation, she thinks I'll agree to watch your kid?"

Shiki shrugged. "I guess so."

"I must be crazy to even consider the idea." Kiritsugu leaned back in his chair. "Anything I should know about the girl?"

"We gave her the surname Heartfilia, after a mutual associate of Arcueid and Zelretch who lives in another dimension." Shiki explained. "Also, she seems to have inherited my Mystic Eyes."

Kiritsugu almost fell out of his chair in shock. "She has the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception?"

Shiki nodded. "That's why we're asking you. You're strong enough to shield her from anyone who comes after her due to her lineage, as well as stop her if she shows signs of going crazy from the Eyes' effect."

"And her bloodline? Is she a vampire, a True Ancestor, or what?"

"No." Shiki told him. "Apart from the Eyes, she's a normal human."

"Doesn't look like I have much of a choice..." Kiritsugu mused, then stood up. "I know I must have lost it, but... fine. I'll take care of your kid."

Shiki nodded gratefully. "Thanks, Emiya."

* * *

Despite what Shiki told Kiritsugu, he never came back. The Magus Killer received a short note from Zelretch saying that Roa had gone after Shiki with all he had to prevent the Mystic Eye user from killing him again. Arcueid, having killed Roa with rare ferocity to avenge Shiki's death, lost her mind to her vampiric impulses shortly after. With her last remains of sanity, the White Princess managed to seal herself away from the world, leaving her daughter alone in the process.

Zelretch himself came to visit Kiritsugu shortly after. The man, fearing retribution from the Einzbern family, convinced Zelretch to transport all three of them (him, Shirou, and Lucy) to the universe where Arcueid and Zelretch's mutual friend Layla Heartfilia resided in. Zelretch complied and left the unusual family in a snowy, eternally cold region in northern Fiore.

It was there that Kiritsugu met Ur Milkovich, who quickly became a friend of the family. The woman fell in love with the Magus Killer and often hinted at her interest in him, but he stubbornly refused her advances... until one night, when he finally caved in and slept with her. He and his two adopted children were gone the next day, with no sign of them having ever lived there. The only memento Ur had of him was a note, apologizing for leaving her like that and telling her to find someone more deserving of her. Unknown to Kiritsugu, she was already carrying his child, a daughter she later named Ultear.

Kiritsugu died three years after Shiki, having succumbed to the curse the corrupted Grail gave him. His last words to Shirou and Lucy, both of whom were with him in his final moments, expressed relief that both of them were intent on becoming a superhero, just like Kiritsugu wanted to do. What the Magus Killer did not realize was that Shirou and Lucy had vastly different ideas of what a superhero was. Shirou planned to become a superhero who could and would save everyone. Lucy, on the other hand, already considered Kiritsugu a superhero and following that belief, chose to emulate him as much as she could, to the point that she transplanted the remains of the Emiya magus crest onto herself. The results of the operation left her bedridden for almost a year while her body adjusted to the crest, but after she recovered, she was able to use Kiritsugu's famed Innate Time Control, quickly becoming as proficient in it as the Magus Killer once was.

With everyone in the Heartfilia estate dead (Kiritsugu died from the curse, Layla succumbed to an illness, and Jude overworked himself to death), Shirou and Lucy left the Heartfilia property and headed towards the nearby town of Magnolia. Once there, Lucy left Shirou at a local mage guild called Fairy Tail, and went on to follow in Kiritsugu's footsteps. She promptly vanished in unknown circumstances, leaving Shirou as the only person with any contact with her, and even then, he was never told where she was, just that she was fine. That is, until one day...

* * *

"Man... why did Nee-san decide to meet here of all places?" Seventeen-year-old Shirou Emiya sighed, glancing at a magic shop, then at the cat and the wobbly pink-haired boy around his age behind him. "And why are you two tagging along, anyway?"

"Igneel's in this town!" Happy, the cat cheered. "Besides, everyone's curious about this Nee-san of yours! You talk about her a lot, but no one has ever met her or knows what she looks like!"

Shirou sighed. "Whatever."

* * *

A woman with long white hair and cold brown eyes watched Shirou, Natsu, and Happy make their way past the magic shop, then turned back to the shopkeeper.

"At this rate, I'll be late." She told the man sternly. "Have you found any useful magic yet?"

"No..." The man sighed. "But we do have some new items in stock! How about this 'Colors' magic?" He eyed her black suit and matching trench coat and gloves nervously. "You can change the color of your clothes with it..."

"Useful for camouflage." Lucy agreed. "But I already have one of those. Well then, if that's all..."

The man sighed and bowed as she left. "Please come again!"

"I doubt I will."

* * *

"Kyaah!"

"Salamander-sama!"

"Salamander!" Natsu perked up. "We finally found him! Come on, Happy, Shirou!"

"Aye!"

"This must be a joke." Through a window in an abandoned building, Lucy watched as Salamander showed off to a crowd of adoring girls. "A simple poser with a Charm spell... this is what I was hired to eliminate?"

She sighed and opened the case she always had with her, quickly putting together a sniper rifle. "Apparently this guy actually runs a slave ring..." She mused, lining up the rifle until she had clear aim at Salamander. "There's no need in the world for scum like him..."

She scowled and gave an aggravated grunt, lowering her gun when a mass of pink hair suddenly blocked her aim.

"Igneel!" Natsu pushed past the crowd. "Igneel!"

He froze and stared at Salamander blankly. "Who are you?"

The surprised man quickly recovered. "Maybe you know me as... Salamander."

His jaw dropped when he noticed Natsu walking away dejectedly, having not even listened. "He left already?"

Salamander chuckled when his fangirls railed on Natsu for his insolence. "That's enough, girls. He didn't really mean it."

"Here." He scribbled something down on a piece of paper, which he then handed to Natsu. "I'll give you my signature. You can show it off to your friends."

"I don't want it."

That statement earned Natsu another trampling.

"I don't think that was him." Shirou observed, once he pulled Natsu away from the commotion.

"I appreciate your enthusiastic welcome." Salamander observed, bowing to the gathered women. "But I have some errands to run at the port. Please excuse me."

With that, he snapped his fingers and a swirl of purple fire formed under him, carrying him off.

"We're having a party on the ship tonight!" He shouted as he left. "Make sure to come!"

Natsu sighed, watching the man fly away. "What was that guy?"

"Just some creep." Shirou shrugged. "Don't worry about it."

"He's my target." A female voice from behind them declared. "If you hadn't butted in, I'd have taken him out."

Shirou turned to the speaker and his eyes widened. "Nee-san?"

* * *

"You are a nice person." Natsu mumbled thickly, trying to devour food from six plates at once.

"Aye!" Happy agreed around his mouthful of fish.

"Nee-san." Shirou looked elated to see Lucy. "It's been seven years since I saw you... there's so much I want to ask, but I'll start with the most obvious thing. What the hell did you do to your hair?"

"I grew it out and dyed it white." Lucy told him. "Can't you see that? Anyway, who are your friends?"

"I'm Natsu, and this is Happy." Natsu paused eating for long enough to introduce himself. "And you are?"

"Maiya Emiya." Lucy gave them the fake name she always used. "I'm Shirou's older sister."

"Anyway..." She leaned back to avoid flying scraps of food. "What is your business here? I requested that Shirou came alone to meet me."

"I heard Salamander is in this town, so we came along, but it was the wrong person." Natsu sighed. "And I totally believed it was Igneel, too."

"Igneel?" Lucy raised an eyebrow. "As in the fire dragon? I really doubt a being as large as him would be parading around in the middle of a harbor town."

Natsu and Happy gave identical expressions of realization.

Lucy shook her head at that. "I'm sorry I left you with morons like these, Shirou."

"Still, it's nice to calm down once in a while." She relaxed in her seat. "After today, I have no jobs to do for about a week... what say you show me your guild, Shirou?"

Natsu looked at her curiously. "Jobs? What kind of jobs?"

Lucy gave a small smirk which didn't reach her eyes. "I'm a mercenary."

With that, she tossed a wad of bills on the table and stood up to leave. "Enjoy the rest of your meal. Shirou, I'll meet up with you once I'm done working here."

And with those words, she left before Natsu or Happy could comment.

* * *

"Hah!" Natsu patted his stomach contently. "I ate a lot!"

Shirou sweatdropped. "A lot is kind of an understatement..."

"Aye."

"Oh yeah..." Happy spotted a ship in the distance. "Salamander said he'd have his party on a ship. I wonder if that's it."

"Look!" A nearby woman pointed the ship out to her friend. "That's the ship! Salamander-sama's ship! Aw, I wanted to go to the party too!"

The other woman frowned. "Salamander?"

"You don't know about him? He's this great mage who's currently in town!" The first woman explained. "I heard he's a mage from that famous Fairy Tail guild."

The trio's eyes widened at that. "Fairy Tail?"

* * *

"Rose, huh?" Salamander looked impressed. "Such a name suits you..."

The woman smiled and nodded. "Thanks."

"Let us toast with a glass of wine." The man declared, pouring two glasses of said drink.

"Um..." His guest hesitated. "Don't you have to attend to other girls?"

"It's fine. I just feel like drinking with you." Salamander snapped his fingers and small orbs of wine began hovering over to Rose. "Just relax and open your mouth. Pearls of wine will slowly come in."

The woman raised an eyebrow, finding the idea a bit odd, but complied. After swallowing down a few red orbs, her eyes began to droop, until she finally slid off the sofa with a snore.

Salamander smirked. "Another one, boys!"

"Good job, Salamander-sama." A large thug stepped out from behind a curtain and held up the sleeping woman. "This one's a beauty, too."

* * *

"It just had to be a ship..." A white-haired woman grumbled, attaching another explosive charge to a wooden wall. "There are about twenty women being held captive... once I blow up the hull, Gemini can rescue them."

"I just hope nothing goes wrong." Lucy Irisviel Heartfilia, more commonly known as Maiya Emiya or as the Wizard Killer, sighed. "The slavers are an acceptable casualty, but I'd prefer to get the captives to land, where it's safe."

* * *

With a loud crash, the ceiling broke and Natsu came down through it, landing in front of Salamander with a scowl on his face.

The man paled. "The boy from earlier?"

"Ugh..." Natsu bent over and struggled not to hurl. "I can't handle vehicles..."

"What's going on?" Salamander stared at the night sky through the hole Natsu made. "Why would a brat fall from the sky?"

"And he's already got motion sickness, too..."

"Pull yourself together, Natsu." Happy chided the boy, using long wings to hover above the ship. "Now's not the time to be sick."

He promptly had to avoid several gunshots as the gathered thugs focused on him.

"Fairy... Tail..." Natsu rasped. "You..."

Explosions rang out all over the ship as Lucy's charges detonated and ripped the hull apart, causing the ship to begin to sink.

Natsu's cheeks promptly swelled up and he hunched over again. "Gh..."

* * *

A blip of static came over Lucy's earpiece, before a voice identical to her own spoke out of it. "We got all of the captives back to land."

"Good." Lucy nodded. "Dispel yourself, Gemini. I can handle it from here."

"Understood."

* * *

Salamander scowled as the damaged ship was pushed ashore by the waves and stopped on the beach. "What's going on?"

"It stopped." Natsu sat up in relief. "The rocking... it stopped."

"Brat..." Salamander smirked, turning to him. "You shouldn't get on other people's ships without permission."

Natsu frowned and stepped forward. "Are you a mage of Fairy Tail?"

"So what if I am?"

"Let me take a good look at your face."

Natsu stared at Salamander for a moment, before charging forward and slamming two grunts out of his way. "I'm Natsu from Fairy Tail, and I've never seen you before!"

"That mark..." A thug noticed a red bird-like symbol on Natsu's forearm. "He's the real deal, Bora-san!"

"Don't call me that, idiot!"

"I don't care if you're a bastard or a good person." Natsu grit his teeth. "But I can't forgive you for using our name!"

"Whatever." Bora scoffed, blasting Natsu with a burst of purple fire. "Hmph... noisy brat."

"Awful."

Everyone's eyes widened in shock when the fire was sucked into Natsu's mouth.

"Are you really a fire mage?" The teen shook his head. "I've never eaten such disgusting flames before."

"Still..." Natsu wiped his jaw and smirked. "Thanks for the meal."

Bora's jaw dropped. "What is he?"

"Now that I've eaten..." Energy began to swirl around Natsu. "I can feel my power! Here I come!"

Several grunts tried to intercept Natsu, only to get trapped by a rain of swords falling from the sky.

"Do not interfere." Shirou warned them. "Natsu will just beat your boss up and let him go to jail. Nothing serious."

"Bora-san!" A terrified grunt pointed at Natsu and Shirou. "I've seen those guys before! The red-head is definitely Shirou of the Infinite Sword..." He glanced between Shirou and Natsu and blanched. "And the other one... there's no doubt, he's the real Salamander!"

That was all he managed to say before Natsu exhaled a huge gust of flame at Bora.

"Remember it well, mage." Natsu ran towards the man, enveloping his fist in fire as he approached. "The name of-"

Just before his punch connected, Bora fell to one side and lay still. A pool of blood quickly began spreading from under his head.

"What the..." Natsu stared at the dead man in shock. "What happened?"

Shirou paled and looked around. "Nee-san..."

"We should go." Lucy observed, appearing behind them only to start dragging them away. "The military will be here soon, and I'd rather avoid them."

"Nee-san..." Shirou glared at her. "You-"

"Don't start." Lucy cut him off sternly. "We've had this argument before. I'll stick to Tou-san's idea of a hero, you try to develop yours. We'll both be happier if we don't complain about the other's methods."

"Ok then!" Natsu slung an arm around each sibling. "Maiya-san, you said you wanted to see Fairy Tail, right? Then come with us!"

Shirou nodded. "Yeah, I want to show you my home, Nee-san."

"And I want to see it." Lucy agreed. "Lead the way, Natsu-san."

* * *

AN: Oh, wow... what did I just write?

Chapter 2 will be out soon. Thanks for reading.

Till next time!


	2. Balam Alliance, Strike One

And here we go, for the 100th time... ok, for the fifth time. It's a new story, this time a cross-over between Fairy Tail and the TYPE-MOON universe (elements of Fate/Zero and Tsukihime). Just like TSCM, this story features a strong Lucy, but apart from that it's completely different.

NOTE: For the purposes of this story, the time line has been adjusted. The events of Tsukihime happened several years before the Fourth Holy Grail War, not during the Fifth War. Also, Ultear will be younger than in canon, while Lucy will be older.

Also, Maiya Emiya is Lucy's alias. No one except Shirou knows her real name, and even he uses her fake name.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail, Fate/Zero, Fate/Stay Night, or Tsukihime.

* * *

"I forgot this building was that large." Lucy muttered, looking up at the Fairy Tail guild hall.

"Come on in!" Happy chirped. "You can meet our friends in there!"

Lucy nodded and followed Shirou in, looking around the room. Mages were eating, drinking, and messing around everywhere she looked, giving the place a relaxed and cheerful atmosphere.

"Mira-chan!" Someone called. "Three beers over here, please!"

"Coming right up!" A white-haired woman in a red dress quickly brought the drinks over. "Enjoy!"

"Mira-chan..." A man smoking a pipe called out, using the smoke he produced to form hearts in the air. "Let's go on a date next time!"

Mira sighed and lit up, before turning into an older and far less attractive woman. "You're married, remember?"

"Gaaah!" The man wailed, turning away quickly. "Don't transform into my wife!"

"We're home!" Natsu roared, charging past Shirou and Lucy into the room.

"Aye!"

A laughing man quickly found Natsu's foot in his face.

"Bastard!" Natsu raged. "The info you gave me about Salamander was fake!"

"My..." Mira giggled. "Now that Natsu is back, the place might get torn apart soon."

She noticed Shirou and Lucy and walked over to them. "You're back too, Shirou-kun? And who's this you brought with you?"

"I'm Shirou's sister, Maiya Emiya." Lucy introduced herself, shocking the other woman. "A pleasure."

"Did you say Emiya?" A boy wearing just his boxers walked over to her. "As in Shirou's sister?"

At her nod, he grinned and shook her hand. "Name's Gray Fullbuster. I heard about you from my master Ur."

Lucy's eyes widened as she recognized the name.

"Gray here became Ur's student a few months after we left." Shirou explained. "She never told him about Kiritsugu, but she did talk about us a few times when he studied under her."

Lucy nodded. "Yeah, Ur was a good person."

"Gray..." A woman drinking directly from a barrel of beer sighed. "Have you been walking around like that for long? You're embarrassing yourself in front of the guest."

Gray looked down and his jaw dropped. "Shit, not again!"

"The big guy is Elfman." Shirou pointed to a large man who just challenged Natsu and Gray to a fight. "He's Mira's brother. The one with those girls is Loke, and the drinker is Cana."

Lucy raised an eyebrow. "They're starting to break the room apart... shouldn't you do something, Mira-san?"

"I wouldn't worry." Mira waved the question off. "This happens all the time."

A beer bottle crashed into the side of her head, causing blood to stream down the side of her face. "Besides, isn't it fun this way?"

Lucy sighed. "This place is so noisy..."

Gray flew past her and crashed into a table, completely naked. Natsu laughed as he held up the other boy's boxers and waved them around.

"My underwear!" Gray looked around wildly, before his gaze settled on Lucy. "Maiya-san, if you don't mind, can I borrow your underwear?"

Lucy stared at him for a moment, before holding her hand out and letting a pair of men's boxers appear in it. "Here. Keep them."

"Thanks." Gray nodded gratefully and quickly put them on, before rejoining the fight.

Shirou shook his head. "I'm not even going to ask why you have male underwear in your requip armory."

"I have to be prepared for everything."

"So noisy..." Cana grumbled, holding up a card. "Guys, it's time to end this."

"I've had it!" Gray agreed, smashing a fist into his other hand.

Elfman gave a howl as his right arm transformed into a large, brick-like limb.

"What a troublesome bunch." Loke sighed, adjusting a ring on his finger.

"Come and get me!" Natsu roared as his fists burst into flame.

"I'd better stop this..." Shirou mused, letting a multitude of wooden swords form and hover behind him.

"That's enough." A huge form stepped in between the fighters. "Cut it out, you fools! We have a guest!"

Natsu grinned when all fighters gave resigned scoffs and calmed down. "Hahaha! You all got scared! This match is my wi-"

The huge form scowled and crushed him under its' foot. Lucy watched with a raised eyebrow as the thing shrunk down into a little old man.

"Nice to meet you." The man shook her hand. "I'm Makarov, the master of this noisy guild. And who might you be?"

"Maiya Emiya." Lucy gave a polite nod. "I'm Shirou's older sister."

"I see..." Makarov narrowed his eyes at the name he recognized as that of the Wizard Killer. Lucy noticed him frown and gave a sigh, before turning to leave.

"It seems I'm no longer welcome." She told Shirou. "I'll be going now. Still... quite a nice place you have here. I like the friendly atmosphere."

"Wait!" Makarov called after her. "Maiya-san, I-"

"It's fine." Lucy cut him off. "The life I chose is not meant to be understood, nor is it supposed to be considered good in any way. Your earlier reaction was something I have both expected and gotten used to. Besides, I have a job to get ready for anyway."

And with that, she walked out of the guild.

* * *

_Two weeks later:_

"Codename: Racer..." Lucy watched her target through the scope of her sniper rifle. "Real name unknown. Affiliation: Oracion Seis. Magic: Perception of Time. No doubt about it, he's the real deal. Gemini, are you in position?"

"Affirmative." Came through her earpiece.

"Right." Lucy aimed carefully at Racer's head. "I don't know why he's alone, but it's made my job so much easier."

She pressed the trigger.

* * *

"I thought you were meant to be fast." Cobra smirked, teasing Racer as the man walked in. "You kept us waiting."

Racer sighed. "Piss off, Cobra."

"Easy..." Angel chided them. "Racer, Cobra's right... in a way. It was a routine check-up on our subordinate dark guilds, yet it took you longer than usual. What happened?"

Racer flopped down on a sofa. "I ran into the Wizard Killer Emiya."

"No way!" Angel and Cobra shot up in shock. "How? What happened?"

"I don't know how she caught wind of where I was, but she tried taking me out." Racer told them. "Get this: she actually used a Celestial Spirit, the one called Gemini."

Angel's eyes widened. "I've been looking for that one! If you're here, then you beat her, right? Did you bring the key?"

"Slipped my mind." Racer admitted shamefully. "I did kill her, but it was a tough fight. I passed out from exhaustion for a few minutes. I don't have the key, but I hid her body, so it's most likely still with her."

Angel listened with glee as Racer described the location, then quickly left the hideout to get the long coveted key.

Racer waited for a few minutes, then stood up and stretched. "Now then... time to get started."

"With what-" Cobra managed to say, before finding a knife through his chest.

Raising his eyes, he stared at Racer in shock. The surprise turned to confusion when Racer lit up and reformed into two small blue creatures.

"W-what the..." He choked out, coughing up blood. "I don't und-"

"Your friend is dead." Gemi told the dying man. "It was even easier than getting rid of you."

The last thing Cobra saw was Gemini turning into an exact copy of him.

* * *

Angel peered into a small dark cave cautiously. "Racer said it was in here..."

She frowned when she failed to see anything inside, then her eyes lit up when she spotted a strand of white hair in a thin crevice.

"I found you!" She cheered, walking over to the fissure. Her joy turned to confusion when she found the strand of hair to be the only thing around.

"What's going on?"

Hidden outside, Lucy pressed a button and the rigged cave exploded, burying the already dead Angel underneath tons of rubble.

* * *

"You guys..." Hot-Eye grumbled, walking out of his room to the meeting hall. "What was all that noise a moment ago? I'm trying to come up with ways to make money."

"Yo, Hot-Eye." Cobra waved at him from the sofa. "Racer came by for a moment, then went somewhere again. Good thing too, he was unusually noisy and Cubelios is taking its' afternoon nap."

He pointed to a trail of coins. "Also, Racer seems to have a hole in his pocket. Can you go after him and pick those up on the way? There's no telling how much he lost."

Hot-Eye smirked. "I suppose I can take a walk, yes?"

Cobra watched as the large man left, picking up coins as he walked, then stood up and sighed. "I can't believe that worked. Now then... time to take care of the snake."

A few minutes later, Cubelios had its' head cut off. The sleeping reptile never saw it coming.

"And that makes four." Cobra observed, turning away. "I have one more target to deal with."

* * *

Elsewhere, Hot-Eye was turning a pale color, his vision was turning hazy, and sweat was running down his entire body. Even so, the man continued to walk forward and pick up coins, not stopping even when a sharp pain shot through his left lung and he coughed up blood.

"His greed just makes this sad." Lucy observed, watching the scene through binoculars. She gave a satisfied nod when Hot-Eye keeled over and lay still. "Poison that begins to affect the body on contact... a very useful thing."

* * *

Cobra grinned and turned back into Gemini, before dispelling. A few seconds later, the entire hideout exploded. Midnight, who was sleeping in his room, was instantly obliterated by the blast.

* * *

"What the hell is going on?" Brain panicked, rushing through the forest towards his base. "Four of the Six Generals have fallen, one after another! What the fuck is happening?"

His eyes widened in horror when he saw something explode in the distance, in the exact same spot where his base was. A second later, another one of his tattoos faded, signifying Midnight's death.

"I'm the only one..." He sank to his knees in disbelief. "How could this have happened..."

"He's lost his will to fight." Lucy watched stoically as Brain gazed ahead with dull eyes, not moving. "It seems that even dark guilds have some sense of comradeship."

"At this point, I'll just be putting him out of his misery." She quickly put together her rifle, took careful aim, and fired. Moments later, blood sprayed from Brain's head and the man collapsed, dead.

"That makes all six." She noted, sending her rifle back to her requip dimension and lighting a cigarette. "Mission complete."

Behind her, black smoke continued to rise from the remains of the Oracion Seis base.

* * *

NOTE: Here's a list of Lucy's equipment:

-Gemini (the Spirit)

-Two sniper rifles

-Three sub-machine guns

-A pack of grenades

-Several smoke bombs

-Several flash grenades

-A few stun grenades

-Six handguns

-Kiritsugu's Thompson Contender

-Over 300 of Kiritsugu's Origin Bullets (made from the rest of his ribs)

-Two swords with blades made from Kiritsugu's bones and infused with the man's Origin

-Piles of ammunition for her other weapons

-Avalon (currently inside her to lessen the backlash from her Time Shift)

-lots of spare clothes

-several deadly toxins and poisons

-binoculars, night-vision goggles, two-way radio transceivers, and wireless headsets

Lucy keeps her equipment in a pocket dimension styled like an armory, which she can access using Requip magic.

Chapter 3 will be out soon. Thanks for reading.

Till next time!


	3. Clash of Two Assassins

And here we go, for the 100th time... ok, for the fifth time. It's a new story, this time a cross-over between Fairy Tail and the TYPE-MOON universe (elements of Fate/Zero and Tsukihime). Just like TSCM, this story features a strong Lucy, but apart from that it's completely different.

NOTE: For the purposes of this story, the time line has been adjusted. The events of Tsukihime happened several years before the Fourth Holy Grail War, not during the Fifth War. Also, Ultear will be younger than in canon. You'll see why later.

Also, Maiya Emiya is Lucy's alias. No one except Shirou knows her real name, and even he uses her fake name.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any of Nasu Kinoko's works.

* * *

"Crap!" Loke swore, running into the guild hall. "Natsu, Gray! Erza's back!"

The two fighting teens instantly shot away form each other in fear. In his seat by the bar, Shirou smirked in amusement as an armor-clad red-haired girl in armor and carrying a huge horn on her shoulder walked in, glancing around at the cowering mages.

"I'm back." She announced, putting the horn down. The entire building shook. "Is Master present at the moment?"

"Welcome back." Mira smiled. "Master is attending the guild masters' meeting."

Erza nodded. "I see."

"Erza..." Someone approached her cautiously. "What is that huge thing?"

"This? The townspeople decorated the horn of the demon I defeated. I liked it, so I brought it home as a souvenir..." She stared at the speaker. "Will it be a problem?"

"No, not at all!"

"Anyway, guys..." Her smile faded. "I heard you've been causing trouble again. Even if Master forgives you, I won't!"

The gathered mages paled.

"That's an inappropriate drinking posture, Cana!" Erza barked. "Vijeeter, go outside if you have to dance! Wakaba, your cigarette ash is dropping everywhere. Nab, hurry up and pick a job already! You guys give me so much trouble..." She sighed. "I won't say anything for today."

"You already said enough."

Erza turned to the speaker and smiled. "So you are here, Shirou. Good, good... are Natsu and Gray here?"

Shirou pointed to the two boys, who were hugging and pretending to be best friends.

"I'm glad to see you're doing well." Erza began. "I have a favor to ask all three of you. Usually, I would consult the Master, but I consider this urgent so... I need your help. You'll come with me, right?"

"Eh?"

"Huh?"

"Sure."

Cana paled. "What's going on?"

"This is the first time I've seen Erza and Shirou work with someone else!"

"Yeah, those two are a team and usually have no problem with anything!"

"We'll leave tomorrow." Erza told the three boys. "Prepare yourselves."

* * *

"Why does Erza need our help?"

"How would I know? Besides, even if she needs help, I would be enough!"

"Then go by yourself! I don't want to go!"

"Fine, then don't come! You'll get killed by Erza later!"

"Shirou?" Lucy blinked, walking up to him with surprise. "What are you doing here? And what's with those two?"

"Nee-san!" Shirou shot up from his bench. "I'm going on a job with Erza and those guys. I haven't yet been told what we're going to do, but I trust Erza. And don't worry about Natsu and Gray, they're always like this when Erza's not around. And why are you here?"

"I'm hunting down and eliminating the subordinate guilds to Oracion Seis." Lucy explained. "Since I wiped out the Six Generals, they should be panicking and uncertain of what to do next; the perfect chance to go after them. Rumor has it that one of them, Eisenwald, just sent most of its' men to Oshibana, so I'm heading there to check it out."

"Oh hey, you're coming with us then, Maiya-san?" Gray just noticed her. "This suddenly got a lot more interesting."

Natsu eyed her with distrust, remembering her chosen profession. "As long as you don't go overboard, I suppose it's fine."

"Aye!" Happy agreed.

"Sorry..." Erza called, dragging a huge stack of luggage on a wheeled platform over. "Did I make you wait?"

"Erza-san..." Lucy began, glancing at the luggage in confusion. "You specialize in Requip Magic, correct? Would it not be more efficient to keep all of this in your pocket dimension and only keep what is necessary at the moment with you?"

"You might have a point. I always just thought to store my weapons in there..." Erza blinked. "But may I ask who you are?"

"Certainly." Lucy held out a hand. "Maiya Emiya, Shirou's sister. Nice to meet you."

Erza's eyes widened for a moment, before she nodded. "You obviously know me already, but for manners' sake, I'm Erza Scarlet. I've heard quite a lot about you from Shirou. Supposedly you also use Requip Magic to some degree and are rumored to know several vastly different branches of magic."

"Anyway..." She turned to the three boys. "I must warn you that this job might be a bit risky, but I think you'll all manage just fine."

"I don't know what we're going to do, but I'm in." Natsu scowled. "On one condition."

"Condition?" Erza raised an eyebrow. "Say it."

"When we get back, fight with me." Natsu demanded. "I've changed since the last time."

"You've really grown up." Erza agreed, smiling. "I'm not very confident in myself now... but ok, I accept."

"Alright, I'm all fired up!" Natsu roared. "Let's do this!"

* * *

Natsu groaned, holding his stomach and leaking drool as he stared out the train window, totally out of it.

Gray sighed. "You're so pathetic, Natsu. Go sit somewhere else if you're gonna be sick. In fact, why didn't you just choose to run next to the train?"

Erza sighed. "I guess there's no other way. Come sit next to me."

Lucy frowned as she stood up and traded places with Natsu. The group watched as Erza gave the sick boy a tender smile before slamming a fist in his stomach, knocking him out.

"There." She said, satisfied. "That should ease him up a little."

"So what's going on, Erza?" Gray asked. "You and Shirou can handle anything thrown your way, so why ask Natsu and me for help? What happened?"

Erza frowned. "I was on my was back from a mission when I stopped at a bar in Onibas with a reputation of being a wizard hangout. Some guys in there caught my attention when they started talking about a flute called Lullaby and about the seal on it that prevented usage. Then a guy they called Kageyama said that he can take care of it and to let someone called Erigor know that he'll return in three days. I didn't understand at first and I put it out of my mind until I remembered who Erigor was."

Erza scowled. "The ace of the dark guild Eisenwald, Shinigami Erigor. He got that name because he keeps accepting assassination requests. They broke away from the League when the Council forbade assassination missions, because they preferred earning money to respecting the law. Despite their master getting arrested, Eisenwald continued to ignore the law."

"Eisenwald?" Lucy repeated. "Then it truly is fortunate I ran into all of you. Eisenwald is my target today."

"Those guys have a hold of this Lullaby thing and are up to something." Erza continued explaining as the train stopped and they got off. "I decided that we simply cannot overlook the matter. And it is a major plus to have the Council's weapon against assassin mages, the Wizard Killer Maiya Emiya, with us."

Erza eyed them all sternly. "The plan is simple. We march into Eisenwald!"

"Just one problem." Shirou spoke up, getting everyone's attention. "Natsu's missing."

* * *

A man stared down at a wheezing Natsu. "Mind if I sit here?" He indicated the vacant seat opposite him and plopped down without waiting for an answer.

"You seem to be in pain." The stranger observed. "Are you feeling alright?" He smiled when he noticed the guild mark on Natsu's shoulder.

"A normal guild, huh? Fairy Tail..." Kageyama leaned forward. "I envy you."

* * *

"How could I have done something like that?" Erza moaned. "I was so focused on explaining the situation that I forgot all about Natsu! And he can't handle moving vehicles either. Someone punch me!"

Ignoring the order, the group followed her as she walked back into the station and pulled the emergency stop lever. Lucy sighed as the station staff ran around them, trying to regain control of the situation. "What a mess."

Gray nodded. "Indeed."

"Where are your clothes?"

Shirou face-palmed.

* * *

"Speaking of Fairy Tail, Mirajane's famous, isn't she?" Kageyama continued the one-sided conversation. "I hear she appears in magazines sometimes, and she's beautiful. She's still young, so I'm not sure why she retired so early."

Natsu groaned, still completely out of it.

"And then there's Erza Scarlet. She's pretty cute too." Kageyama added. "By any chance, are the two of you friends?"

"All the cute girls go to the regular guilds." Kage mused. "Like I said, I envy you. There's no girls in my guild, so maybe you could share some of yours. That's what I'd like to say, at least."

Kageyama grinned as he kicked Natsu in the face. "Don't ignore me. That kind of attitude is demeaning to us dark guild members!"

The man smirked when he noticed Natsu regain his bearings and glare furiously at him.

"Oh, so you're talking now." He observed smugly. "You see, Fairy Tail has been getting way too much attention lately. Stuck up people like that tend to really piss me off." He leaned forward. "You know what we call Fairy Tail? To us, you're just annoying flies that need to be swatted." He clapped Natsu on the head to demonstrate.

Natsu shot up and screamed, igniting his fists. "AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGG-barf."

Kageyama burst out laughing. "What kind of magic is that?" A shadowy hand shout out of the floor and nailed Natsu in the face, sending him flying back. "That's how you use magic, you fly."

The train lurched and Kage's pack fell off the seat as the vehicle came to a screeching halt. "What the... it stopped?" Kageyama exclaimed, looking out the window.

Natsu glanced at a weird flute with a three-eyed skull at one end. Kageyama noticed that and paled. "You... you saw it!"

"I owe you for earlier." Natsu observed, lighting up his hand again. "So here you go!" He punched Kage, knocking him down and sending him crashing down the aisle.

"That's how a fly can punch." Natsu told him.

"We have confirmed that the emergency stop was due to a false alarm." A voice announced over the loudspeaker. "We will resume travel shortly. We apologize for the inconvenience."

"That's not good." Natsu muttered. "I'd better get out of here."

Ignoring Kage's ranting about fighting and Eisenwald, Natsu gathered up his luggage and leapt out the window. Unfortunately, the train had already started moving by that point, so wind pressure ended up pushing him several meters back straight into Gray, who was on the roof of Erza's magical four-wheeler. Lucy stared in surprise and mild amusement as the two boys tumbled backwards off the vehicle.

"What the hell were you doing, flame-brain?" Gray yelled at Natsu.

"I'm sorry, I seem to have lost my memory from the shock." Natsu deadpanned. "Who are you?"

Natsu turned away from Gray and scowled when Erza, Lucy, Shirou, and Happy approached him. "Oi, how could you leave me behind like that?"

"I apologize." Erza stated solemnly, smashing Natsu's head against her armor in a hug. "I'm relieved to see you're safe."

"How am I safe?" Natsu pulled away angrily. "Some weird guy picked a fight with me on the train! What was it again? Eisenwald or something?"

"You idiot!" Erza slapped him. "Eisenwald is who we're after!"

"That's the first time I heard about that!" Natsu exclaimed in his defense.

"I explained on the train!" Erza argued. "Why didn't you listen to what I was telling you?"

"Never mind." Lucy sighed. "What did he look like?"

Natsu scowled. "Nothing special. He carried a flute with a three-eyed skull on one end."

Lucy's eyes widened in alarm. "Are you sure about that?"

Natsu nodded.

"Damn." Lucy muttered, getting inquisitive glances from everyone. "That flute is the Lullaby! I read about it somewhere. Rumors say that whoever plays a tune on that flute will kill everyone who hears it. In other words, it's a mass murder curse!"

* * *

"Erigor-sama, we have complete control of the train!" An Eisenwald mage reported.

"Excellent." A tall man with long white hair chuckled, holding up Lullaby. "With this, the mass-murder curse magic, we are all set. Let the show begin!"

* * *

"I knew you'd come." A voice resounded as soon as they stepped on the train platform. "Fairy Tail wizards. I've been waiting for you."

Erza glared at the speaker. "And you must be Erigor, right?"

"You flies." Kageyama snarled, rubbing a mark on his neck. "It's because of you..."

"Calm down, Kage." A man behind Kageyama advised him.

Natsu started to wake up. "Wait... that voice..."

"You! What is your plan?" Erza demanded. "Depending on your answer, I might have to make you pay!"

Erigor shrugged. "Nothing really. We have no job and we're kinda bored, so we just want to fool around a bit."

He smirked and stood up. "Don't you understand what they have in a train station?" He asked, starting to levitate. The Fairy Tail mages watched as he flew up to the large megaphones and understanding dawned on them.

"You're going to broadcast Lullaby?" Erza exclaimed.

Erigor burst out laughing. "There are hundreds... no, thousands of curious people gathering around this station right now. If we broadcast it loud enough, maybe even the entire town will hear it!"

"Murderer!" Erza spat.

"We are simply cleaning up. Those fools who live their lives enjoying their rights are unaware that there are people who have lost those same rights. Living a life oblivious to the unfairness of the world is a sin." Erigor grinned. "And so the Shinigami has come to punish them. A punishment called death."

"Idiot." Shirou looked annoyed. "If you do something that stupid, your rights will forever remain out of your reach."

"It's not about the rights anymore." Erigor countered. "Now that we got this far, it's the power we're interested in. If we have the power and authority, we can simply erase the past and control the future."

"What a pity that you little flies will die before seeing the new world we'll create!" Kage shouted, sending a shadow arm towards the group.

"I knew I recognized that voice!" Natsu shouted, smashing the shadowy limb to pieces with a flaming punch.

Kageyama growled. "Why, you..."

Shirou frowned and looked around, then turned to Erza. "Hey... where did Nee-san go?

Natsu grinned. "This time we're on a real battleground." He glanced at the Eisenwald members. "Oh, there's so many of them!"

Erigor grinned and flew up higher. _You fell for it, Fairy Tail. We had to change our plans a little, but now I can progress unhindered. There is someone who just has to hear the melody of Lullaby. Someone who I must kill!_

"I'll leave the rest to you." Erigor told the guild. "While I go play the flute, you guys let those flies feel the power of Eisenwald's darkness." With these words, he crashed into a window and flew out of the station.

Erza rounded on her team. "Natsu, Gray! You two go after him!"

Both boys stared at her. "Huh?"

"If you guys work together, there's no way you'll lose to him!" Erza told them. Now go! Shirou and I can handle things here!"

The two boys nodded and sped out of the room.

"Leave them to me." One of the Eisenwald members ordered. "I'll get them!"

"I'll take the salmon head!" Kageyama shouted, vanishing into his shadow.

A roundish member of Eisenwald frowned as he observed the two mages. _The boy is named Shirou... could it be?_

"You guys are not going to insult Fairy Tail anymore!" Erza announced, leveling her sword at the Eisenwald thugs.

"Big deal!" One of them scoffed. "We have a lot of magic weapon users too!"

"Yeah, we'll strip that armor right off of you!" Another added.

Erza frowned and leapt forward, swinging her weapon and knocking down several enemies at once.

"Tch." One of the grunts scoffed. "Try some ranged magic on for... what?"

A wave of Shirou's arm saw swords form in an arc of light and shoot at the Eisenwald mages, taking many of them out.

"Now for something new..." Shirou focused on his hand, still semi-aware of the enemies nearby. "Judging the concept of creation... hypothesizing basic structure... duplicating composition material... imitating maker's skill... analyzing experience of creation... reproducing accumulated years... perfecting every little detail... done."

An exact replica of Erigor's scythe formed in his hand and he charged forward at the Eisenwald mages, most of whom had soiled themselves upon seeing the blade form out of thin air.

"What the hell?"

"That's Erigor-sama's weapon!"

"Is his magic some advanced telekinesis?"

Erza scowled at the barely diminished horde of enemies.

"This is taking too long." She remarked, as her armor started to unravel and disappear.

The thugs perked up. "Cool! Her armor is starting to vanish!"

The armor did disappear, only to be replaced by a different one, bearing four large wings. Additionally, a circle of swords hovered around Erza.

"Erza... and Shirou... weapons formed from nothing and that re-quip speed... it can't be..." Karakka shot up. "Look out, you guys!" He yelled urgently. "Those two are the strongest team in Fairy Tail! Titania Erza and Shirou of the Infinite Sword!"

"Dance, my swords." Erza commanded the sword ring, which spun around her rapidly, knocking down the last few grunts.

"You bitch!" A still conscious man shouted, leaping at her. Erza didn't even blink as she sent the guy flying headfirst into a wall.

"She knocked Beard out with just one hit!" Karakka exclaimed, wide-eyed. "There's no way!"

Erza frowned when she saw him running away. "Chase him down, Shirou. Try to get Erigor's location out of him."

Shirou nodded and all the projected swords vanished into light, before he sped off.

* * *

"We have to work together?" Gray exclaimed furiously.

"The power of fire and ice cannot combine!" Natsu retorted.

"There's no way!"

"Impossible!"

"I mean, Erza's so selfish!"

"Exactly!" Gray shouted. "She can't make all the decisions like that!"

"I can take care of Erigor all by myself!" They both snarled.

"Stop mimicking me!" They yelled in unison, smashing a fist into the other's face.

"Wait." Gray ordered, looking at a fork in the road. "We'll have to split up here."

Natsu nodded. "Yeah, I guess."

"Listen, Natsu." Gray warned him. "Our opponent is a maniac with a dangerous power at his disposal. If you find him, just crush him."

"There's more to it, isn't there?" Natsu asked. "He's an idiot who picked a fight with Fairy Tail. I'll just burn him to cinders if I find him."

The two boys grinned at each other, before realization set in and they turned away, huffing. "Don't die." Gray muttered.

"Huh?"

"Nothing! Just go already!" Gray shouted, already running down his path.

"Damn." He cursed, eyeing a loudspeaker. "If he's really planning to broadcast that death melody, it's not going to be pretty. Wait... broadcast?"

The enormity of his brainwave caused Gray to stop in his tracks. "If he's planning to broadcast it, then he has to be in the room with the controls to the broadcasting system!"

A few minutes later, Gray found a door labeled 'Studio'.

"Found it!" He exclaimed, kicking the door open, only to find it empty.

"Wait..." The ice mage muttered, oblivious to the Eisenwald member coming out of the ceiling. "This is the only room Erigor could broadcast from. If he's not here, then does that mean he never planned to broadcast it?"

The dark guild member grinned as he shot several black bands from his fingers at Gray's back. Just before they connected, Gray leapt to one side and spun to face his assailant.

"You have good instincts." The man praised Gray, lowering himself to the floor. "That will prove to be a nuisance to our plan."

Gray smirked. "So there really is something bigger going on here, huh?"

"Yeah, there is."

* * *

"Makarov, dearie, I really like your mages. They're all so lively and spirited." Master Bob of the Blue Pegasus guild came over to Makarov.

"I heard that they beat up some rich guy from somewhere." He added, sitting down at Makarov's table.

Goldmine, the master of the Quatro Cerberus guild, frowned. "It's good to be lively, but aren't your mages taking things too far? I heard that the council is worried they might blast a whole town to smithereens one day."

Makarov chuckled perversely, clearly imagining something inappropriate.

"Oh my." Bob giggled, guessing what Makarov was thinking. "Don't fantasize about your own mages."

"Master Makarov." A delivery bird called, flying over with a letter. "You have a message from Mirajane Strauss."

Makarov took out a card from the envelope and held it up. A hologram of Mira came to life. "Master, thank you for attending the regular Guild Masters' meeting." She started.

"Look, she's our poster girl!" Makarov crowed to the assembled mages. "Isn't she cute?"

"Something amazing has happened, Master!" Holo-Mira cheered excitedly. "Erza and Shirou formed a team with Natsu and Gray! Of course, Happy's with them too!"

"Don't you think it's wonderful?" She asked, oblivious to Makarov breaking out in a cold sweat. "I think this might be the strongest team in Fairy Tail! I thought you should know about this, so I sent you this letter. See you soon!" And she vanished.

The other mages shot up in alarm when Makarov fell off his seat.

_Good heavens!_ Makarov thought in his semi-conscious state._ Now they really could destroy an entire town. The regular meeting ends today and I can go back tomorrow, so until then... please don't make a mess!_

* * *

A large crowd milled in front of the train station. Questions like 'what's going on inside?' and 'are the terrorists gone?' were frequently heard, but the station staff keeping the crowd at bay was unable to answer, as they didn't know themselves.

"Look!" A watcher shouted suddenly. "Someone's coming out!"

The crowd fell silent and watched as Erza stepped out onto the balcony of the building.

"You're the one who barged in here earlier!" An employee with a megaphone remembered. "What's happening inside?"

Erza didn't reply. She just tore the megaphone out of his grasp and stepped forward.

"If you value your lives, leave here immediately!" She yelled through the device. "The station is occupied by dark mages. One of them is prepared to cast a spell that will kill everyone here! Evacuate as far away as possible."

The crowd went still for a moment, processing her words, before the mass of people turned and ran, screaming and pushing in their haste to escape.

"Hey!" The worker exclaimed. "Why are you causing panic?"

"It's better than seeing them die." Erza responded tonelessly. "What I just said is true. Of course, we're doing what we can to prevent it, but we cannot guarantee safety. It's best if you evacuate as well."

Erza watched the man flee, before turning back to face the city._ Erigor can commit mass murder by using Lullaby. But now that there's no one here, it would be meaningless to play it. So then... what will he do now?_

Erza's eyes widened in shock as the wind rose to unnatural speeds. "What the...?"

* * *

The man turned around in shock, having not sensed anyone there. "What-"

There was a series of slashes and the man gave a loud groan before he fell apart into several pieces.

"You killed him." Gray struggled not to throw up as he stared at Lucy and at the scattered remains of the man. "How... how did you make it look so easy?"

"I cannot tell you that." Lucy shook her head. "It is a trump card of mine that, when combined with my Innate Time Control, makes me practically unstoppable in a fight."

"But..."

"It was the simplest way of dealing with a criminal." Lucy shrugged. "Killing him means no more victims who would suffer by his hand in the future."

"Is that your reasoning? That's the way of life the Wizard Killer follows and believes in?" Gray, to her surprise, looked more contemplative than disgusted. "That sounds like a lonely path with nothing but emptiness awaiting at the end."

"It is." Lucy nodded. "But in order to save as many people as possible, someone has to walk that path."

* * *

Erza looked up at the huge wall of wind. "The station... it's completely surrounded!"

"Oh?" A floating figure sighed. "What is a fly doing outside? Wait... you're the one who made the bystanders run away. Hey, Titania."

Erza looked up at the man. "Erigor! Did you do this?"

"I wanted to get a chance to fight you at least once." Erigor mused. "But unfortunately, I don't have time for that right now. So just stay inside and be a good little fly, ok?" With those words he sent a blast of wind at her, knocking her through the wind wall back into the station.

Erza picked herself up from the floor and jumped at the barrier, only to pull her hand back rapidly as cuts appeared all over it.

"Don't bother." Erigor advised. "This wall only works one way, outside to inside. Anyone trying to leave will be torn to shreds. I suppose I can call it your cage, little fly."

The man shrugged, floating away. "I've wasted enough time on you. I guess it's time for me to go now."

"What's going on?" Erza growled as she watched him disappear into the distance. "The station isn't their target?"

* * *

"I-it's impossible..." Beard groaned. "Nullifying the magic of Erigor's wind wall... there's no way we could do it..."

Erza frowned and let go of the man's collar, causing him to hit the ground painfully.

"Erza!" A cry caught her attention.

Titania looked up. "Gray? Weren't you with Natsu?"

"I lost him." The boy yelled back. "But there's no time for that now! Their true target is Clover. Eisenwald plans to use the Lullaby to kill the guild masters!"

"Yeah, I figured as much." Erza sighed. "But the station is surrounded by a wind wall."

"I know, I saw it." Gray told her. "If we try pushing through it, we'll get torn apart." He kicked a grunt's unconscious form. "What about these guys? Don't they know how to take that barrier down?"

Erza stiffened. "I just remembered. There's someone called Kageyama in Eisenwald. If I recall, he's the one who broke the magic seal on the Lullaby flute!"

"So he's a dispeller?" Gray shouted. "In that case, he might be able to take that thing down! Come on, let's go find him!"

Beard scoffed as he watched Erza and Gray run off. "Karakka." He called.

The fat mage slowly emerged from the wall.

"You heard, right?" Beard asked. "Kage's a target. Go find him."

Karakka started sweating. "I won't be able to help him out, you know that!"

Beard chuckled weakly. "Yeah, don't worry. Your job is easier than that..."

* * *

In his shadow, Kageyama sweat-dropped as he watched Natsu kick down wall after wall. "Doesn't this idiot know what doors are for?" He muttered.

"But Erigor has left the station already." He mused quietly. "I could just leave him alone now, but then... I won't be able to rest easy!" He shouted, swinging out of his shadow and kicking Natsu hard in the back of his head.

"Ow." Natsu moaned, before whirling around to face the shadow user. "You again?"

"I understand how your magic works now." Kage announced smugly. "You increase your destructive power by igniting a part of your body. Pretty unusual magic, but I'm not particularly worried. If I was facing Titania Erza or Shirou of the Infinite Sword, I wouldn't expect to win, but someone like you I can handle easily."

"Dammit!" Natsu shouted. "I really want to beat you up, but I don't have time! Tell me where Erigor is!"

"That's an interesting question." Kage observed. "Maybe if you defeat me, I'll tell you."

Natsu smirked. "So you'll tell me where he is if I knock you down? Sounds like a great deal to me!" He exclaimed, swiftly jumping away as a shadowy fist burst out of the ground where he stood a second ago.

"He's quick." Kage sneered. "But there's no way he'll dodge this! Orochi Shadow!"

"They'll chase you to the ends of the earth if they have to!" Kage shouted maniacally.

Natsu braced himself for the first shadowy snake, before punching straight through it and following up with a kick that destroyed two others.

"Impossible..." Kage muttered in shock as Natsu proceeded to obliterate all of the shadowy creatures one after another. "No way! He took out all of them?"

Natsu grinned as he ignited his fist and punched Kage in the face, sending him sprawling. The man didn't even get a chance to catch his breath before Natsu grabbed him and threw him through a wall.

_He's a monster! _Kage yelled inside his head as Natsu sent a gust of flames at him. The tremendous impact of Natsu's attacks shook the entire building, attracting the attention of the rest of his group.

"Heh, I win!" Natsu grinned as he surveyed his fallen opponent. "Now tell me where Erigor s."

"You fool..." Kage chuckled weakly. "Erigor isn't even in this building anymore..."

"Huh?"

"Natsu!" Erza yelled as she and Gray ran up to him. "That's enough. We need him!"

"What?" Natsu exclaimed, confused. "What's going on?"

"Good job, flame-for-brains." Gray grinned.

"It's nothing." Natsu frowned. "And what's with the two of you, eh?"

"We can't explain right now." Gray told Natsu. "We were looking for him."

"Enough." Erza commanded, slamming Kage against a wall and drawing her sword. "I want you to take down the wind wall at once!" She ordered. "Every time you say no, you get a new cut. Understood?"

"U... understo-" Kage gasped and coughed up blood, before slumping to the ground with a huge wound in his back. Behind him, sticking halfway out of the wall, Karakka was trembling in shock at what he'd done.

"Kage!" Erza shook the mage. "Dammit, stay with me!"

"Shit!" Gray exclaimed, running over. "This is bad!"

"Hang in there!" Erza commanded, supporting Kage. "We need your help!"

Natsu glared at Karakka. "Wasn't he... your comrade?"

The fat mage whimpered and vanished back into the wall quickly. Half a second later, a huge number of weapons crashed into the wall, bringing it crumbling down from the force and revealing a terrified mage behind it.

"I got him, Erza." Shirou panted, before turning to the rest. Gray and Erza were arguing about Kage's usefulness over the boy's prone form, and Natsu was screaming at Karakka about guilds and comradeship.

"Erza-san." Lucy's tone was sharp and commanding as the white-haired woman joined them, and Titania fell silent immediately. "What do we need this guy for?"

"You haven't seen the wind wall yet?" Gray asked. Seeing her shake her head he continued. "Erigor set up a wind barrier around the station. Anyone trying to leave will get shredded, but we need to leave before Erigor kills the guild masters in Clover."

Lucy nodded. "Understood. Leave it to me, I can get us out." She jerked her thumb towards Kage. "Do as you will with him. As a neutralized member of a dark guild, he is none of my concern."

"You can get us out?" Natsu asked, forgetting about the fat mage in front of him. "Sweet! Awesome, Maiya!"

"Aye!"

* * *

"Hmmm." Lucy looked up at the raging winds. "It's rather impressive up close. Very well, here goes..."

Her fist lit up with a purple glow and she smashed it into the barrier. "Ethernano Displacement: Expel!"

A huge visible cloud of magic particles burst outward from the wind wall, before dispersing. Since the barrier was now normal wind, it slowly died down and cleared, letting everyone in the station leave.

"Alright!" Gray shouted. "Well done, Maiya-san!"

"Of course." Erza nodded, smiling. "I wouldn't expect anything less."

Shirou grinned and looked the team over. "Natsu and Happy, you two go first. As soon as you're out, go straight after Erigor. Don't wait for us, we can catch up. Delay him until we get there or if you can, take him down. Got it?"

"Aye, sir!" Natsu and Happy chorused.

"Nee-san..." Shirou turned to his sister, only to find an empty space. "She's gone too?"

* * *

"I see it." Erigor muttered as he approached Clover. "Just a bit further."

He frowned and turned when he heard someone rapidly approaching him. His eyes widened and he flew back from a flaming kick, having been unable to block in time.

"This is Happy's max speed!" Natsu shouted as Erigor crashed into the train tracks below them. The dragon slayer landed several meters away from the wind user and grinned.

"I can't fly anymore..." Happy muttered weakly, falling into his friend's arms.

"No problem!" Natsu exclaimed. "We caught up to him. Thanks, buddy!"

"You..." Erigor groaned. "Why are you here?"

"That's easy!" Natsu smirked. "I'm here to take you down, you wind bastard!"

* * *

"Why did you bring me along?" Kage asked weakly, slumped in his seat.

"The townspeople had evacuated and there was no one there, so we're taking you to Clover to get medical help."

Kage scowled. "No, I mean, why did you save me? We're enemies!"

Realization hit. "Oh, I get it. You're taking me hostage in order to negotiate with Erigor later. That's a waste of your time. He doesn't care about anyone in the guild."

"I can kill you right now if that's what you want." Gray deadpanned. "But life and death aren't the only results of fighting, you know. You should try being more positive, you and your Eisenwald pals."

"No one should ever have any ulterior motives to saving anyone." Shirou looked grim. "Helping and saving as many people as possible is the right thing to do."

Gray studied him for a moment. _He has the same ideals as Maiya-san, and yet he's so different... must be hard for those two to get along._

Erza groaned and attempted focusing her vision. "I must have wasted too much magic power... my sight is weakening..." She gritted her teeth and sped up. _Natsu, you have to stop Erigor! We're counting on you! If you don't stop him, all the guild masters will die!_

* * *

"Bring it on!" Natsu beckoned. "I'll burn you up along with that freaky flute of yours!"

Erigor scowled. _What happened to the wind wall? And what about Kageyama and all the others? Tch... and the geezers' meeting hall is so close, too... Those guys... they really are pesky flies._

Erigor made a strange hand sign and a blast of wind knocked Natsu back. "Die, you puny fly!"

"Happy!" Natsu shouted, falling into the ravine. "Crap... he's all out of power!"

Erigor watched as Natsu plummeted into the abyss. "There's no way he's coming back from this."

A column of fire suddenly engulfed him and he yelled in pain.

"That was close." Natsu muttered, landing back on the bridge. "I wasn't sure if that was gonna work, but it was as good a time as any to try."

"It must be cold when you're half-naked like that." Natsu observed. "Why don't we heat things up then?" He grinned, igniting his fists and shooting forward at an insane speed.

"He's fast!" Erigor choked out as Natsu slammed his fist into his stomach and sent him tumbling backwards.

"Don't get carried away!" The wind mage advised, jumping up and sending a vortex of wind at Natsu. "Stormbringer!"

Natsu fell out of the attack, completely dizzy and winded.

"This ends now!" Erigor crowed, swinging his scythe forward towards Natsu's neck, only for the pink-haired teen to stick his arm in the way and stop the attack.

"He blocked it with his arm?" Erigor gasped, watching Natsu's cheeks puff up. "And now he's going to breathe fire at me? What is this kid?"

The man jumped up, narrowly avoiding Natsu's flames, before settling to hover a safe distance away. _Seriously, what's with him? There is no pattern or plan in his attacks. Is this what all Fairy Tail mages are like?_

"I may have underestimated you." Erigor straightened up. "Let's fight seriously now. "

"Storm Mail." The man shouted, summoning high-velocity winds to surround him. "Here I come. No amount of your flame can break through this!"

"I see I managed to catch up with you." Lucy mused, approaching them calmly. "Am I right in thinking this is Erigor in that wind barrier?"

"Yeah." Natsu nodded. "Can you break it down like you did with the other one?"

"Of course." Lucy's eyes seemed to look different somehow, before the girl leapt up towards Erigor and slashed a knife at the Storm Mail. To both Natsu and Erigor's shock, the wind died down.

"Excellent!" Natsu's whole body became surrounded by flames and he charged towards Erigor, who was trying to understand what happened. "Salamander's Sword Horn!" He shouted, slamming his head into Erigor's stomach.

The ace of Eisenwald shot high up into the air and crashed heavily into the ground, bleeding, battered, and unconscious. Lucy promptly walked over and examined Erigor for a moment, before slitting his throat.

"That's dealt with." She turned away from the corpse, ignoring Natsu and Happy's green faces. "Now we just have to wait for the others."

* * *

"Natsu!" Gray shouted, leaning out of the four-wheeler.

Natsu turned to him and smiled, although he seemed shaken. "Oh, it's you guys. You're too late, we're done with him already."

"Aye!"

Erza smirked tiredly. "Well done, you two."

Kage was shocked. _They beat him? But... Erigor never loses! Just how strong are they?_

Shirou grinned as he supported Erza and made his way over to the two bickering boys.

"Wearing a scarf while naked makes you look weird." Gray observed.

"Oh sure, like you're one to talk." Natsu growled. "Maiya-san, let me borrow a shirt or something."

Lucy silently handed him a black coat.

"Anyway, good job, you guys." Erza told them. "Since we're so close to Clover already, we might as well go see Master. We need to report what happened and ask about what should be done with the Lullaby flute."

A loud screech pierced the air as the magic vehicle surged forward with Kage in the driver's seat.

"You were careless, you flies!" He shouted gleefully as a shadowy hand handed the flute to him. "The Lullaby is mine now! Serves you right!"

"Stop, you bastard!"

"Give that back!"

"You ungrateful little-"

Lucy sighed and held out her hand. A sniper rifle appeared in it, which she pointed at the distant vehicle and focused.

"Steady... steady..." She adjusted the scope. "Got you."

And she pressed the trigger.

* * *

"There he is!"

Natsu and Shirou sped over to Kageyama, who was lying face-down on the ground. The magic vehicle, having lost its' driver, had careened off into the canyon.

"And this is the flute that started this whole thing." Lucy picked Lullaby up, looked it over, and promptly broke it. Then she threw one piece into the canyon and put the other in her pocket.

Shirou paled at the large pool of blood under Kageyama. "He's dead..."

"Of course he's dead, that's my job." Lucy observed calmly, while the others stared at her in shocked disbelief. "As part of my agreement with the Council, by dealing with the targets they assign me, I am free to handle my personally chosen criminal targets any way I see fit."

"Do you really think so little of the value of one's life?" Erza asked quietly.

"No. Any life is important." Lucy sighed. "But by that same reasoning, the lives of the guild masters he was going to kill were much more important than his single one."

None of them could find fault in that line of thinking, and yet they all felt uncomfortable with it.

"Well..." Erza composed herself. "While not exactly the way I wanted to, we are done with Eisenwald. Let's go back to the guild, you guys. Maiya-san, working with you has been... interesting."

"Shirou." Lucy called him back as the others headed away. "A word, if you could."

Shirou nodded to Erza to keep going and turned back to her. "Sure. What is it, Nee-san?"

"There are two things I want to show you." Lucy held up a hand with a glowing ring on one finger. "Do you know what that ring does?"

Shirou shook his head.

"I modified a Color Charm and placed it into the jewel." Lucy explained. "That means it's active as long as I'm wearing it. Do you remember in Hargeon, when you asked about my hair?"

Shirou nodded, unsure where she was heading with this.

"Well..." Lucy sent a small amount of magic into the ring and the jewel dulled. Shirou watched as his sister shimmered for a moment, before his eyes widened in horror.  
Where once stood a beautiful woman with lustrous pearl-white hair and cool brown eyes, now was a very similar person, except her hair hung loosely around her face, framing it with wispy strands of a faded bone-white color. Dull gray eyes observed his shock, seeming tired and weary and... Shirou couldn't believe his nineteen-year-old sister could possibly look so old.

"Nee-san..." He felt his eyes get wet. "What on Earth happened to you?"

"This is the result of over-using my Innate Time Control magecraft." Lucy explained. "While I am more efficient with it than Kiritsugu and therefore using it doesn't destroy my body to the extent it did his, it has still affected me."

Shirou didn't know what to say. "Nee-san..."

"I'm showing you this to warn you." Lucy told him. "You seem to be using less of your projection and more magic closer in line with this world's natural laws, so this shouldn't happen to you, but... please do not overuse your magecraft like I did. I have a feeling this appearance of mine is a very... mild... result of overuse."

Shirou didn't have the nerve to tell her that he only used Projection and Reinforcement magecraft.

"And there's one other thing." Lucy held up her left hand. Shirou gasped at the three crimson marks on it, entwined in an elaborate flower-like pattern. "I trust you know what those are."

"So you have them too, Nee-san." Shirou held up his hand, with three markings of its' own. "I meant to tell you, but you beat me to it. What do we do about this?"

"I am uncertain of whether we should go back to Fuyuki in our home world and fight there, of if we should wait it out here." Lucy looked pensive. "However, just in case, I am planning to summon my Servant shortly. Most likely in two weeks or so."

"This is also your decision." She eyed Shirou sternly. "What do you want to do about the Holy Grail War?"

"I..." Shirou hesitated, then spoke firmly. "I do not want to involve this world – my home – in that barbaric conflict. I'm going to Fuyuki to fight."

"Excellent." Lucy nodded, reactivating her Color ring disguise and looking healthy again. "I shall accompany you, and we will fight there."

A nostalgic smile crossed her face. "I already know the perfect place to stay."

* * *

NOTE 1: Here's a list of Lucy's magic:

-Innate Time Control (from Kiritsugu's crest remains).

-Requip Magic.

-Ethernano Displacement Magic.

-Color Magic (imbued into her ring).

-Mystic Eyes of Death Perception.

NOTE 2: Here's a list of Lucy's equipment:

-Gemini, Scorpio, Aries, Caelum

-Two sniper rifles

-Three sub-machine guns

-A pack of grenades

-Several smoke bombs

-Several flash grenades

-A few stun grenades

-Six handguns

-Kiritsugu's Thompson Contender

-Over 300 of Kiritsugu's Origin Bullets (made from the rest of his ribs)

-Two swords with blades made from Kiritsugu's bones and infused with the man's Origin

-Piles of ammunition for her other weapons

-Avalon (currently inside her to lessen the backlash from her Time Shift)

-lots of spare clothes

-several deadly toxins and poisons

-binoculars, night-vision goggles, two-way radio transceivers, and wireless headsets

-a switchblade

Lucy keeps her equipment in a pocket dimension styled like an armory, which she can access using Requip magic. Apart from the Origin Bullets, she restocks everything she uses up during a mission after she finishes it.

Chapter 4 will be out soon. Thanks for reading.

Till next time!


	4. Number Seven, Wizard Killer Emiya

And here we go, for the 100th time... ok, for the fifth time. It's a new story, this time a cross-over between Fairy Tail and the TYPE-MOON universe (elements of Fate/Zero and Tsukihime). Just like TSCM, this story features a strong Lucy, but apart from that it's completely different.

NOTE: For the purposes of this story, the time line has been adjusted. The events of Tsukihime happened several years before the Fourth Holy Grail War, not during the Fifth War. Also, Ultear is much younger than in canon.

In this story, Lucy's behavior is a mixture of Kiritsugu Emiya's and Shiki Ryougi's. Also, Maiya Emiya is Lucy's alias. Very few people even know her real name, and all of them use her fake name.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any of Nasu Kinoko's works.

* * *

"A quiet, out-of-the-way place to summon my Servant..." Lucy kept rowing towards a certain crescent-shaped island. "Rumors say Galuna Island is cursed and that nobody every goes there if they can help it... sounds exactly right."

Her eyes narrowed when she neared the island and noticed a spear break some sort of crystal barrier hovering in the sky. Then came very loud cheering.

"Dammit."

* * *

"Why am I not surprised to see you here, Shirou?"

Shirou sighed. "Because you're never surprised, Nee-san. Anyway, why are you here?"

"I was hoping to find some quiet place to summon my Servant." Lucy told him. "This island was supposedly cursed and no humans come here, so it sounded perfect. Now explain to me exactly what is going on."

"Long story short, we broke the 'curse'." Shirou indicated himself, Natsu, Gray, and Erza. "Natsu tricked me into going on an S-rank mission with him and Master sent Erza and Gray after us because he thought Natsu went alone."

"Right..." Lucy eyed him sceptically. "So how did he trick you? Did he say something along the lines of 'a lot of people need saving and you can help them' or what?"

Shirou blushed.

"Anyway..." Lucy glanced at Leon, Sherry, Yuuka, and Toby, who were sitting awkwardly to one side and eating slowly. "Who are they? I don't think they're from your guild."

"The white-haired one is Leon, and the others are his followers." Shirou shrugged. "They tried to release a frozen demon from its confines so that Leon could kill it for good."

"Trouble loves following you around..." Lucy sighed. "Whatever. Come with me, Shirou. I want you to watch as I summon my Servant."

* * *

Shirou watched as his sister prepared to summon. "So have you decided what Servant class you're going to try for?"

"I don't have any relics, and as far as I know, I'm not related to any people who could have become a Heroic Spirit. Unless Mother Arcueid..." Lucy shook her head clear of that idea. "So there is no way I can predict who I'll summon. My best guess is that since we live in a land with a lot of residual Ethernano in the air, which is not prana but similar enough, I might summon a Caster."

"And that's fine. A Caster or Assassin would be good, but I'd rather not summon any of the other classes." Lucy frowned. "A Saber would likely be honorable and always disagree with my methods, an Archer would have Independent Action and that would be an annoyance, Lancers usually have very low luck, a Berserker would need more energy to control, and... actually, a Rider would be fine too."

"Ok, here goes." Lucy turned towards an elaborate circle and began chanting.

_Silver and iron to the origin. G__em and the archduke of contracts to the cornerstone. __The ancestor is my great master Schweinorg._

_The alighted wind becomes a wall. __The gates in the four directions close, __coming from the crown, __the three-forked road that leads to the Kingdom circulate._

_Shut (Fill). Shut (Fill). Shut (Fill). Shut (Fill). Shut (Fill). _

_Repeat every five times._

_Simply, shatter once filled._

_-I announce:_

_Your self is under me, __my fate (doom) is in your sword._

_In accordance with the resort of the Holy Grail, __if you abide by this feeling, this reason, then answer._

_Here is my oath. __I am the one who becomes all the good of the world of the dead, __I am the one who lays out all the evil of the World of the Dead._

_You, seven heavens clad in three words of power, __arrive from the ring of deterrence, __O keeper of the balance!_

Lucy finished the aria and pushed as much prana into the ritual as she could. Her eyes widened when she felt a connection form in her mind. Shortly after, there was a burst of light from the center of the summoning circle and a figure could be seen there, veiled in slowly clearing smoke.

"In accordance with your summoning, Servant Caster accepts your marriage proposal and will happily become your wife!"

The smoke cleared to reveal a young woman with mid-length pink hair and vibrant yellow eyes, clad in an elegant blue robe tied with a black sash. Shirou was trying to understand the fact that the woman had fox-like ears, while Lucy seemed unable to tear her eyes away from the Servant's thick fox tail.

"Mou..." The Servant looked amused. "You have to accept the contract, Master."

"Huh? Oh, yes..." Lucy showed the Servant her Command Seals. "Will this do?"

Caster nodded and leapt at Lucy, bowling her over in a hug. "Yatta! I got myself a cute Master! So, Master, when can I become your wife?"

Lucy and Shirou both blinked. "Wife?"

"Exactly!" Caster nodded excitedly. "I need to be someone's wife to feel fulfilled! It's the very reason I became a Servant!"

Lucy nodded absently, studying Caster's stats. "Attack: D... Defense: B... Agility: E... Luck: B... Magic: EX? Impressive... Class Skills: Territory Creation: C... Item Construction: D. Overall, the class skills could have been better..."

"Aren't you happy, Master?" Caster pouted and her ears drooped. "My stats may not be the best, but I gave you all that information... because I want my dear Master to win the Holy Grail! You can't do that if you don't know what I'm capable of, Master!"

"Ok..." Lucy took a deep breath. "Caster, I only have two rules."

Caster nodded eagerly.

"First, I expect you to do whatever I ask you to do. I do not have any mental problems, nor am I depraved in any way, so my commands will be reasonable... although they might be grueling at times."

"I can handle it!" Caster cheered. "And the second thing?"

"My brother is also a Master in the War, although he didn't summon his Servant yet." Lucy pointed at Shirou. "You are not to attack him under any circumstances. You can only attack his Servant if I allow it. That is non-negotiable and I will use a Command Seal to force you to comply if it becomes necessary."

Caster flinched a little, but nodded. "Ok, Master."

"Good." Lucy nodded, hardly believing what she was about to say. "If you follow those two rules and help me win the Holy Grail, I..." She hesitated. "I will accept you as my wife."

Shirou never thought he'd seen a fox girl look so happy.

* * *

"Ano... where are we going, Master?"

"We're headed to my brother's guild." Lucy told the eager Servant. "I'm going to accompany him there, then there's a job I have to do. Come to think of it, you can help me out."

"Sure thing!" Caster cheered, then looked around curiously and lowered her voice. "Master, when you summoned me, I got knowledge about the current time forced into me, but... why are we in this world and not in Fuyuki? How will we even fight in the War if we're here?"

"The Grail gave you information about both worlds?" Lucy did not expect that. "Well, don't worry about it. I'm in contact with Zelretch, he can easily come to this world and take us to Fuyuki."

Caster nodded and turned to Shirou. "I've never been to a guild of magic users, Master's Brother! Tell me, is it fun to be in one?"

"Yeah..." Shirou smiled at her. "There are rough spots, but most of the time we get to enjoy ourselves."

The group's eyes widened when the guild hall came into view, broken apart by large metal rods sticking out in every direction.

"What the hell happened?"

"Our guild hall!"

"It was Phantom Lord." Mira spotted the group and walked over to explain. "It's horrible, but we were attacked..."

* * *

"Welcome back, you guys." Makarov greeted them happily, before turning stern. "How dare you take an S-class mission without permission, Natsu?"

"Eh?"

"Time for punishment!" Makarov's hand stretched out and he slapped Natsu's head. "Bad!"

He then calmed down. "Don't worry about the guild, there's no need to make a fuss."

Erza scowled. "What?

"Phantom Lord won't go any further than that." Makarov took a sip of ale. "They only trashed an empty guild building, after all. It was in the middle of the night and no one got hurt."

"There's no reason to get mad about meaningless surprise attacks." Makarov grinned. "Just leave them be."

"I cannot accept that!" Natsu roared, slamming his hands on the table. "I won't rest easy until I smash them!"

"This discussion is over! We'll take on jobs form here until the first floor is repaired." Makarov told him with finality. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to take a leak."

Natsu stared after the departing man. "How can you be so calm, Gramps?"

"I'm sure the master feels the same way we do." Mira sighed. "But war between guilds is forbidden by the magic council."

Erza grit her teeth. "If that's how the master feels about it, then we have to accept it."

"Maiya-san." Gray turned to Lucy, who had remained silent so far. "Can't you persuade the Council to intervene? If we're not to fight back, maybe they can act instead."

"The Council won't care." Lucy told him. "First, it's not like there was any real harm done, and second, they dislike you guys. They won't see it necessary to act just because your guild hall got trashed."

The crowd grumbled at that, but most of them understood.

"I'll be dumping my things in your apartment, Shirou." Lucy turned to her brother. "I need some place to spend the night."

* * *

"So how did this happen?"

Happy waved at Lucy. "We're having a sleepover today!"

"All of you?" Lucy glanced between Natsu, Gray, and Erza. "Meh, whatever. Caster, where do you want to sleep?"

"This is fine, Master." Caster curled up on the carpet and snuggled in contently. "As long as it's soft..."

Natsu and Gray sent her surprised glances, but didn't comment.

Lucy turned to Erza. "Is Fairy Tail feuding with Phantom Lord a regular thing?"

"Yeah." Erza nodded, idly scratching Caster's ears. The Servant gave a pleasured mewl. "We've had some brushes before. This is the first time they've attacked us like this, though..."

"Gramps should stop being a wimp and just take care of them." Natsu grumbled.

"I don't think he's scared." Gray countered. "He is one of the Ten Wizard Saints, after all."

"Yeah, but Master Jose is one of them too." Happy observed.

"You may not be aware of it, but I'm one of them as well." Lucy told them, amused by their shocked faces. "The Council has a ranking among the ten of us, based on recorded power levels. Jose is ranked eighth. I'm seventh. I believe Makarov is fifth. And recently, a member from Lamia Scale became the tenth."

Erza narrowed her eyes. "And the Council member Siegrain?"

"Ninth."

"I still say Gramps is scared!" Natsu shot up, slamming his hands on Shirou's table. "Cause Phantom has a lot of members!"

"For the last time, that's not it." Gray told him. "Master knows what would happen if both guilds went all out, so he's avoiding it. He's trying to prevent the chaos it would cause."

"So Phantom Lord is that strong?"

Erza nodded grimly. "If they got in a fight, both guilds would be eradicated... our battle strength is about equal at the moment. Despite his lower rank as a Wizard Saint, Master Jose is said to be on par with Makarov. And the Element Four is the equivalent of our S-class mages over there. Even stronger than them is the Iron Dragon Slayer Gajeel. Most likely he's the one who attacked our guild hall."

* * *

"I heard you attacked Fairy Tail, Gajeel." A random man crowed, walking up to the eating man. "Well done! Their spirit must be crushed by now!"

An iron club smashed into his face, sending him flying.

"How many times have I told people about not bothering me when I'm eating?" Gajeel snarled, spitting out a screw. "Who cares about those damn fairies, anyway. We're the stronger guild."

"Excellent work, Gajeel." A shadowy figure chuckled. "Well done indeed."

"You're too lenient, Master." Gajeel grinned. "But those bastards won't be lured into action that easily, so I left them another gift."

"Heh." The veiled figure chuckled. " However... you mustn't kill that person, no matter what."

* * *

"Coming thought!" Erza announced, pushing through the crowd with Shirou, Natsu, Gray, and Mira accompanying her. Lucy was observing from a distance. "We're from the guild!"

Natsu grit his teeth with fury at the sight before him. Team Shadow Gear, Levy, Jet, and Droy, were hanging from the large tree by iron shackles and Levy also had the Phantom Lord guild mark sketched on her bare stomach.

Makarov walked up to the scene and gave a heavy sigh. "Wrecking our bar I could deal with, but no parent can remain silent after seeing the blood and tears of his children." He clenched his fist, breaking the staff he was holding. "This means war!"

* * *

"Those fairies got their asses kicked good!" A Phantom Lord mage cheered.

"That's not all." Another man grinned. "I heard Gajeel put three of their mages in the hospital.!"

"Sweet!"

"Hey, what about that person we heard about?" Another man asked.

"No idea." A black-haired teenager shrugged. "He just told us to stay away from him."

"Whatever. Here's to those pathetic fairies!" The first man toasted.

"I bet they're trembling with their tails between their legs now!"

"Oh, damn." The first man stood up. "I lost track of time."

"What, meeting a girl?"

"Yeah, my client." He laughed. "When I threatened her, she doubled my reward."

"I bet I could have tripled it."

"Yeah, whatever." He laughed, heading towards the exit. "See ya losers later."

The door exploded in his face, sending him flying across the entire room and attracting everyone's attention.

"We are Fairy Tail!" Makarov shouted, standing in front of a large group of Fairy Tail members. Natsu roared at the Phantom Lord crowd and spat out fire, knocking a group of them down.

"You bastards!" Someone yelled.

"Anyone will do!" Natsu roared. "Bring it on!"

"Don't get carried away!" A tough-looking mage shouted. "Take them down!"

"Is that all?" Gray sneered as he, Elfman, Cana, and the others surged into the mob.

"That's Makarov!" Someone shouted. "Get him!"

The old man screamed in fury and grew to an unimaginable size, smashing a hand the size of a car down on them.

"M-monster!" One of the knocked-down men gasped.

"You bastards dared hurt the children of that monster." Makarov thundered. "Don't think for a second that human laws will protect you!"

"Such strength!" One of the spectators exclaimed. "This is insane!"

"Jose!" Makarov howled. "Show yourself!"

"Where are the members of the Element Four?" Erza demanded, swinging her sword wildly amidst the crowd.

"That's Titania Erza." Gajeel mused, observing the fighting from a support beam. "Gildarts, Laxus, Mystogan, and Shirou aren't here... we're being underestimated. However, I didn't expect Master Jose's plan to work so well. Go ahead and tire yourselves out, scum!"

* * *

"Aren't you going to get involved?"

"Master didn't want to send all of the S-class mages there in case something went wrong." Shirou told his sister. "Besides, you guys cleaned out my fridge yesterday. I'm going to go refill on food and stuff."

Lucy nodded and watched him as he left.

"Caster." She motioned to her Servant. "Go follow him, but remain in spirit form. Intervene only if his life is in danger."

"Hai, Master!"

* * *

"Some meat, juice..." Shirou muttered to himself. "Think I'm running low on spices, too..."

He looked up when drops of water began falling on him. "Rain? But the sun is out..."

"Drip, drip, drop." A fur-clad woman chanted, approaching Shirou slowly. "The rain goes wherever Juvia is... drip, drip, drop."

"Huh?"

"And what of you?" Juvia asked, opening an umbrella over herself.

"I repeat, huh?"

"I enjoyed myself. Farewell." Juvia intoned, passing by the redhead.

"Non, non, non." A sinister voice chuckled, causing Juvia to stop. "Non, non, non. Non, non, non, non, non, non, non."

"Bonjour!" A green-haired man with a monocle burst out of the ground. "And a non in a three-three-seven pattern!"

Shirou frowned. "Another one... who are you? What's going on?"

"Monsieur over there is our precious target." The man observed, causing Juvia to turn to him.

"So he's the one." Juvia muttered, frowning. "Thank you, Monsieur Sol."

"Indeed, I am Monsieur Sol of the Element Four." The man bowed, twisting out of the pavement. "Juvia is also of the Element Four, the Rain Woman."

"Were you the ones who attacked Levy?" Shirou demanded, a sword forming in his hand.

"Non, non, non." Sol smoothed his mustache. "The wrecked guild and the attack were perpetrated by Gajeel-sama."

Having been focused on Sol, Shirou was caught unaware by the orb of water which suddenly surrounded him.

"Although, it was done with our guild's approval." Sol finished.

"What is this?" Shirou thrashed, trying to breathe.

"Juvia's Water Lock cannot be broken." The blue-haired girl smiled.

"Curse: Frigid Heaven!"

The water surrounding Shirou turned to ice, before a fist struck it and it shattered, setting him free. Juvia panicked and immediately engulfed Shirou in another watery orb.

"Platre Sonata!" Sol shouted, causing a huge fist of plaster to fly at Caster and stop her from intervening.

"Mou... Curse: Fiery Heaven!"

The next plaster fist crashed into a wave of fire and burned down to ashes. Sol paled and took several hasty steps back, before sinking into the ground.

Thinking that he was gone, Caster surged forward towards Juvia and the now unconscious Shirou. She didn't notice when she stepped onto an eye sticking out of the stone road.

"Interesting." Sol remarked, slipping out of the ground behind Caster. "To think we'd meet a deity this day. It is truly a surprise... Tamamo-no-Mae."

Caster froze. "Nani? How did you-"

Sol capitalized on her shock and sent another plaster fist at her, knocking her back down the road.

"Tres Bien!" Sol exclaimed, turning away from Caster. "We have captured him!"

"Do not worry." Juvia told the still form. "Juvia will not kill you. For it is Juvia's duty to bring you back... Shirou Emiya-sama."

"Hurry!" Sol urged. "Before she regains her wits! Let's go!"

* * *

"Being a man is what a man is all about!" Elfman roared, knocking a few men flying.

"What's that about?"

"It's Take-Over magic!"

"That guy has a monster Take-Over in his arm!"

"There's really magic like that?"

"I know him!" Someone exclaimed. "The powers of monsters he's defeated are absorbed into his arm... that's Beast Arm Elfman!"

"Erza!" Makarov commanded. "You're in charge! Jose is probably on the top floor. I'm going up there to deal with him!"

Erza nodded at his departing form. "Good luck."

"Heh." Gajeel smirked. "Now that the pain in the ass is gone, I don't have to hold back!" He leapt down, smashing an iron club into friend and foe alike.

"Come on then, scum! I am Gajeel Redfox, the Iron Dragon Slayer, at your service!"

"A man is still a man, even if he's scum!" Elfman yelled, smashing his scaly arm into Gajeel's club.

"Not bad." Gajeel smirked, as he kicked out and Elfman caught it with his other arm. "But how about this?"

Elfman took a hasty jump back when iron rods shot out of the metal leg, taking down many people around them.

"Pay attention!" Gajeel told the distracted man, smashing his iron arm into him. Elfman groaned and flew back, only for Natsu to use him as a springboard and launch himself at Gajeel, slamming a flaming hand into his face.

"Gajeel got pummeled!" Someone shouted in shock.

"First time I've ever seen that!"

"I'm the Dragon Slayer from Fairy Tail!" Natsu announced, catching the iron club aimed at his stomach. "For your guild, for Levy and the others..." He spun, sending Gajeel flying into a support beam. "I'll send you to hell!"

"Tch." Gajeel grunted, righting himself in mid-air and landing on the wooden beam. "That punk..." His eyes shot wide in surprise when Natsu was suddenly right in his face, snarling.

"Nice one, Natsu." Erza smiled when another flaming punch sent the Iron Dragon Slayer hurtling back.

"Is that all you've got, Salamander?" Gajeel taunted, landing on a beam further away.

"Don't worry, that was just a greeting." Natsu scowled, igniting his fists. "From one dragon to another."

Everyone stopped fighting when the building began to shake.

"An earthquake?"

"What's going on?"

"That is Master Makarov's 'Fury'." Erza smirked. "The fury of a giant... no one can stop it."

"Master Makarov is a man!" Elfman grinned. "As long as he's with us, we can't lose!"

* * *

"Jose!" Makarov boomed, crushing all obstacles in his path as he strode towards the shadowy man. "Just what the hell do you think you're doing, huh?"

"Why hello there, Makarov." Jose grinned, leaning on his throne. "Long time no see. It must have been since the meeting six years ago... I clearly overdid it with the sake back then."

"I'm not here to talk about the past!" Makarov shouted, smashing a giant fist into him.

"Oh my..." The man sighed, flickering.

"An image?" Makarov grunted. "You aren't here anymore, are you?"

"A battle among two Wizard Saints would cause a lot of collateral damage." Jose chuckled. "I prefer a more civilized confrontation."

"Where are you?" Makarov demanded. "Come out and fight me fair and square!"

Jose grinned and a second form blurred into existence at his feet.

"Shirou?" Makarov gasped. "What did you do, Jose?"

Jose's smile widened as he produced a dagger. Makarov charged forward in fear, too distracted to notice the huge form suddenly standing behind him until the man sobbed.

"Shit, I didn't even notice him!" Makarov exclaimed, unable to do anything as yellow light engulfed him.

Jose let the dagger drop next to Shirou's body. "There's no reason for me to kill him. Not yet, at least."

_What is this?_ Makarov struggled to breathe. _I can't use my magic!_

"Surely you know who Shirou Emiya is. After seven years, how could you not?" Jose sighed theatrically. "Well, I guess it won't be your concern anymore."

"How sorrowful!" The giant man wailed as Makarov's form fell. "Where does this sadness come from? Is this the sorrow of the world losing a powerful mage?"

"Aria's magic consists of taking away the opponent's magic power." Jose explained, lifting up Shirou's body. "Or in other words, making it 'void'. This is our victory."

* * *

Erza gasped when Makarov crashed into the ground next to her. "M-master?"

"Gah!" Makarov gasped. "My... magic power... it's all gone..."

"Tch!" Erza scoffed. "Now our strength and morale is falling." She looked around the suddenly eager Phantom Lord mages. "Retreat! Everyone back to the guild! We can't defeat Jose without Master! We're retreating and that's final!"

"My, going home already?" Gajeel chuckled, watching the ensuing panic.

"How sorrowful..." Aria mumbled, standing next to him.

"You're as creepy as always, Aria." Gajeel sighed. "I'm surprised you managed to defeat that old geezer."

"All part of Master Jose's plan." Aria burst into tears. "It's wonderful!"

"Don't cry over everything." Gajeel groaned, exasperated. "So, did we capture Shirou?"

"He's confined at our headquarters." Aria told him, calming down.

"I guess we've won then." Gajeel smirked, watching the oblivious Fairy Tail members flee with their master. "And they don't even know it yet."

* * *

"What..." Shirou groaned as he lifted himself up slowly. "I wonder where I am." He looked around, then noticed he was tied up. "I guess I'd better free myself first."

A few moments later, he heard footsteps approaching. "Are you awake? Shirou Emiya-sama?"

"Jose Porla, Phantom's Lord's guild master." Shirou identified the man as he walked in. "What do you want with me?"

Jose's gaze landed on the discarded ropes. "You freed yourself by creating one of those swords you're known for, I'm guessing." He shrugged. "Not that it matters. Right now you are a captive of mine, but if you behave yourself, that can be easily remedied."

"I see." Shirou muttered, gazing at a nearby worm passively.

"See? You don't want to stay here." Jose chuckled. "If you behave, we'll move you to a proper room."

"I just have a few questions before that." Shirou glared at him. "Why did you attack Fairy Tail? And why were you after me?"

"Fairy Tail was just an extra." Jose laughed. "Our real goal was to capture you, but we wanted to teach Fairy Tail a lesson at the same time. And I had you captured because there is something I really want to find out from you."

"Tell me..." He leaned in close and grinned. "Where is Lucy Heartfilia?"

* * *

"I'm so sorry, Master!" Caster wept. "They surprised me and ran away with Shirou while I was distracted!"

"Calm yourself, Caster." Lucy turned from the sniffling spirit towards the Fairy Tail mages, who were listening in curiously.

"So their true goal was capturing Shirou?" Erza asked. "Why?"

"It's a long story, and I must ask that you never repeat it to anyone." Lucy warned them. Seeing their solemn nods she continued. "Over seven years ago, there was a large company in charge of the train lines. It was called Heartfilia Railways and was run by a man named Jude Heartfilia, who resided in his estate with his wife Layla and a friend of the family, Kiritsugu Emiya."

"Emiya..." The mages were starting to connect the pieces together.

"Kiritsugu had an adopted daughter and a slightly younger, also adopted son." Lucy continued. "The daughter, Lucy, was given the Heartfilia name and was named heiress to the family, since Jude and Layla did not have children. Then in the year X777 Layla Heartfilia died from an illness. Her husband died soon afterward from a mixture of severe overwork and grief over losing his wife. Finally, Kiritsugu died in the same year, having had his body cursed and slowly destroyed by magical means for several years. That left the heiress Lucy Heartfilia and her adoptive brother Shirou Emiya to fend for themselves."

Whispers were starting to spread through the crowd and many people were staring at Lucy in shocked realization.

"Lucy Heartfilia was not interested in running the company, so she sold it. That, combined with the inherited money the railways had made before, made her one of the richest people in Fiore. Lucy and Shirou left the Heartfilia Estate soon after, and Lucy left her brother with Fairy Tail shortly before all traces of her vanished."

"It's you." Mira managed out. "You're the lost heiress. You're Lucy Heartfilia!"

"So is that why Jose kidnapped Shirou?" Erza got to the heart of the matter. "He's trying to force you to pay him a huge amount of your fortune in exchange for Shirou's return?"

"Most likely." Lucy nodded. "I must insist that you continue to refer to me as Maiya Emiya, though."

"We can do that." Makarov agreed. "So does that mean you're getting involved in the fight now?"

"Oh, yes." Lucy's eyes turned a strange blue color. "Now it's personal."

* * *

"I don't know who that is."

"Come now." Jose smirked. "Your father was Kiritsugu Emiya, I know that. He lived at the Heartfilia estate with Jude and Layla Heartfilia, the owners of the Heartfilia Railway company. Kiritsugu also had a daughter, Lucy, who received the Heartfilia name when Jude declared her the heiress to his fortune."

"After all three adults died, Lucy sold the company and left you with Fairy Tail, making her the only person who can access that vast wealth. After that, she vanished without a trace. My information network managed to find out all that." Jose explained. "Since you're Lucy's only living relative, you must know. Where is she?"

Shirou was confused. _He figured out all that, but has no clue Nee-san became Maiya Emiya? How is he so stupid? We have the same last name now, dammit!_

"Nee-san does write occasionally." Shirou decided to go with the perfect recipe for lying: two parts truth, one part fake. "But in her letters, she has never told me where she is. I haven't seen her in seven years now."

"I see you insist on being stubborn." Jose observed. "Very well. Once word spreads that we have you captive, I'm sure your sister will show up and try to negotiate your release anyway. I look forward to taking all that money from her."

"Mou... you're not a very nice person. Curse: Chaos Heaven!"

Jose turned just in time to get hit by a blast of green magic. He paled when he felt his own magic power get drained as the green energy tore at him.

"What is this?" He roared. "Who are you? What did you do to me?"

"Master just calls me Caster." The fox girl scowled. "And you kidnapped my dear friend Shirou-kun! You must pay for that! Mantra: Merciful Sky... Curse: Fiery Heaven!"

The world turned to flames. In the middle of the raging inferno, Caster grabbed Shirou and jumped out of the window with him.

Jose screamed in pain and rage, struggling to escape the fiery trap as his captive got away.

* * *

Cana frowned, flipping another card. "Dammit! I can't figure out where Mystogan is!"

"That's too bad." Mira sighed, glancing at the redhead who Lucy was currently examining. "If their target is Shirou, they're bound to attack us again."

"And with so many of us injured, we'd be in a tight spot." Cana added.

"Master is seriously wounded, and we cannot find Mystogan. You're our only hope... Laxus." Mira told the face in the communication lacryma.

"Huh?"

"Please come back!" Mira begged. "It's an emergency!"

"Serves that old codger right!" Laxus laughed. "It's no concern of mine. Go ahead and take care of this mess yourselves!"

"You bastard!" Cana yelled at him.

"Isn't that the truth? That geezer started this mess, so why do we have to clean up after him?" Laxus observed.

"Shirou is being targeted!" Mira protested. "You know, your friend? A fellow S-class mage of this guild?"

"And why should I care? It's none of my business if he gets himself in trouble." Laxus grinned. "Oh, and tell the old geezer to croak already so I can take over as Master."

Mira scowled and shattered the lacryma, cutting the communication off.

"I can't believe it..." She wiped her tears away angrily. "Such a person is in Fairy Tail... I wish I could fight as well."

"You were once an S-Class mage." Cana sighed. "But you can't help the way you are now."

_Master's gone... so are Laxus and Mystogan. And we have so many injured._ Erza gazed sadly at the shower head. _It's impossible for us to keep fighting..._

She leaned against the wall heavily. _If only I had gone with Master... this is my fault!_

Her eyes widened when the entire building shook.

"It's coming from outside!" Alzack shouted for the entire guild to hear. A mad scramble ensued as everyone ran outside the building to face the unknown threat.

"What the..." Someone stared up at the walking castle. "What is that?"

Wakaba's jaw dropped. "The guild is walking..."

"Phantom?" Macao gasped. "They came here?"

"I never imagined this." Erza trembled, standing in front of the crowd covered by only a towel. "They'd go this far to attack us?"

Jose glared down at them coldly. "Prepare the magical weapon 'Jupiter'." He ordered. A wall of the castle lowered itself and a long barrel slowly slid out, pointing at the crowd of Fairy Tail. Energy began to gather at the tip.

"Obliterate!" Jose commanded.

"This is bad!" Erza yelled to the assembled mages. "Everybody, get down!"

She quickly darted forward, shedding her towel and requipping into really bulky armor. "I won't let you destroy our guild!" She screamed.

"Herculean Armor?" Max exclaimed. "Don't tell me she's planning to stop the attack?"

"Even with the armor's defensive power..." Nab trailed off.

"Erza!" Natsu struggled against Gray.

"Quiet down, moron." Gray ordered. "Erza knows what she's doing."

"Excuse me, but I believe I agreed to help." Lucy strode towards Jupiter, preparing a fist. "So allow me to handle this. There's no point in risking injury because of that thing."

She scowled and smashed her fist into the Jupiter blast. "Ethernano Displacement: Redirect!"

The blast bent away from her hand and shot off into the sky, vanishing beyond the clouds.

"To think you had such a powerful anti-magic user among you... how you irk me, Fairy Tail." Jose's voice reached them. "Regardless, you do not stand a chance. Hand over Shirou Emiya now!"

"You're out of your mind!" Alzack yelled back.

"No guild in the world would agree to hand a member over to the enemy!" Bisca added.

"Shirou is our friend!" Macao shouted.

"That's right!" Wakaba added. "We won't hand him over, so you can just go back!"

"Give him to me." Jose said again. "I won't ask a third time."

"We'd rather die than give up on our comrade!" Erza screamed, standing in front of Shirou, who seriously looked like he wanted to agree with Jose and hand himself over.

"Yeah!" The guild members chorused.

"Our answer won't change no matter what!" Natsu roared. "We'll take you down!"

"So be it!" Jose screamed, his face purple with rage. "We will fire an even bigger and more destructive Jupiter blast, one that even that white-haired woman can't stop! Tremble in fear for the next 15 minutes as you helplessly await your doom!"

"How does he not recognize you, anyway?" Someone asked Lucy curiously. "I get why he doesn't know your real name, but surely he would know you're a Wizard Saint just like him, right?"

"Actually, no." Lucy shook her head. "I do my best to keep my identity a secret, so even the other Wizard Saints do not know I'm among their ranks. Apart from that, very few people know what Maiya Emiya looks like and they are all sworn to secrecy, so even if he sees me, he won't know who I actually am."

The listening guild members nodded, then gaped as dozens of identical figures streamed out of the Phantom Lord building.

"Feel the pain, Fairy Tail." Jose boomed. "You have two choices. Get killed by my soldiers, or die by Jupiter."

"He's bluffing!" Max exclaimed. "He would kill his own men if he fired it. There's no way he'll do it!"

"Yes, he will." Cana corrected him. "That's Jose's Shade Magic. Those are ghost soldiers that he created. The real problem here is that cannon."

Natsu slammed a fist into his palm. "I'll deal with that thing!" He announced, already being flown towards it by Happy. "Fifteen minutes is more than enough!"

"You go too, Elfman!" Gray commanded.

"Right!"

"We'll try to strengthen our defenses here! Let's go!" Cana told the remaining members.

"Shirou." Lucy nudged him and pointed at Reedus, who was drawing a carriage. "I can tell you're thinking of handing yourself over, so I can't let you be on this battlefield. Go with Reedus-san and hide out somewhere safe until you can think rationally again."

Reedus nodded in agreement. "Oui!"

Mira watched him drive away, before sighing and transforming into Shirou. "I might not have any power to fight, but I can still protect my friends. No matter what it takes!"

"Now then..." Lucy stepped forward. "Time for me to help out."

* * *

"It won't budge!" Natsu groaned, repeatedly stomping on the cannon.

"Maybe we have to break it from the inside." Happy suggested.

"It's worth a try." Natsu consented, already making his way through the barrel. "Let's go!"

A minute later, he was on the other end. "Hey, Happy! What is that?"

"It looks like a lacryma that gathers magic power." Happy told him. "Although, this is my first time seeing one that big."

"All we have to do is break that thing, huh?" Natsu grinned. "Sounds easy."

"I can't let you do that." A shadowy figure remarked.

"Who cares?" Natsu shot towards it with a flaming hand. "I don't have time for you! Out of my way!"

The figure grinned when Natsu's fist suddenly swerved and punched the boy in the face.

"What the hell? Natsu exclaimed, igniting his hand again and checking if it worked. "What was that?"

"You're the one in our way." The man sneered.

* * *

Max scowled and shot some sand at the Shades, only for it to pass straight through. The creatures jumped at him, but Cana threw some cards that embedded themselves in the creatures and absorbed their magic power, dissolving them.

"The guild has to be protected!" Cana told him. "Those things are puppets that don't feel sadness for losing comrades or fear of having their guild destroyed. We cannot lose to scum like that!"

From the guild window, Mira-Shirou frowned. _Nine minutes before Jupiter fires... hurry, Natsu!_

* * *

"Move it!" Natsu yelled at the man in his way. "I'm going to destroy that thing!"

"I said I won't let you." The man repeated calmly. "Didn't I?"

"Don't waste my time!" Natsu shouted, charging forward with a flame punch. Happy sighed when the fist connected with Natsu's cheek again.

"You don't have time for him, Natsu!" The cat yelled. "You have to destroy Jupiter as fast as possible!"

Natsu roared and spat out fire at the man, which changed direction in mid-air and began to swirl around him instead. He grunted when the enemy ran forward and kneed him in the stomach.

"I am Totomaru of the Flame, a master of the fire element." The man introduced himself. "All flames are controlled by me."

"What?"

"Whether it belongs to an enemy or to nature, all flame is mine!"Totomaru announced, launching himself forward.

"My flame is my own!" Natsu protested.

Totomaru smirked. "This may turn out bad for you, Mr. Fire Mage."

Happy started panicking when magical energy began swirling in the lacryma. "Five minutes left, Natsu!"

"Blue Fire!" Totomaru shouted, engulfing Natsu in azure flames.

"So cold!" Natsu shivered, eating them. "I've never eaten fire this cold before."

"I see." Totomaru mused. "You're Fairy Tail's Dragon Slayer. This may prove problematic for both of us."

"If that won't reach you, then how about this?" Natsu grinned. "Fire Dragon's..."

Totomaru sighed and prepared himself.

"Spit!" Natsu laughed, spitting straight into Totomaru's eye.

"You bastard!" The Phantom mage roared. "Eat this! Orange Fire!"

"What the hell?" Natsu moaned as the fire surrounded him. "Oh man, this stinks! I think my nose is burning!"

"That's the smelly flame!" Totomaru chortled. "Like it?"

"I've had it with you!" Natsu screamed, lighting up his fist yet again. "Here!"

Totomaru grinned. "You never learn, do you?" He asked, redirecting the punch at Natsu's face again. The boy smirked and fire shot out of his elbow, surrounding Totomaru.

Totomaru grit his teeth. _He made the flame big enough to reach me?_

"I won't fall for that again!" He exclaimed, leaping away from Natsu, who was preparing another huge attack.

"What the..." He muttered, shaking his hand to no avail. "It won't move... did he somehow block my magic during our fight?"

"This is my flame!" Natsu shrieked. "You won't move it without my permission!"

"Hah, you missed!" Totomaru cackled as the huge flame sped past him.

"Whoever said I was aiming for you?" Natsu grinned as the fire shattered the lacryma. "Now that that's dealt with, all that's left is dealing with you. It's our turn to crush you, Phantom!"

* * *

"Excellent job, Natsu." Cana smirked, watching as the cannon collapsed into the water.

"All that's left are Shades!" Gray yelled at the other members. "Everyone who can still fight, get to work!"

"Right!" The rejuvenated mages cheered.

* * *

"Master Jose." A messenger bowed fearfully. "Jupiter has been disabled."

"Those brats..." Jose grit his teeth. "No matter. Plan B."

* * *

"I understand your magic now." Natsu told Totomaru.

The man looked up as the room shook. "He's seriously resorting to that?" He yelled, panicked. "This room doesn't have any means of staying horizontal!"

"Horizontal?" Natsu frowned, before his cheeks swelled up.

* * *

"What the hell are they planning?" Wakaba yelled as the building stood up on six legs. Arms shot out from the sides and a helmeted head popped up from the roof, transforming the building into a robot.

* * *

"It's finished..." Totomaru chuckled. "The most powerful weapon our guild possesses... the Super Mage Giant Phantom Mk. II!"

* * *

"You've got to be kidding me..." Cana whispered, her cards falling from her limp hand. "What the hell?"

Around her, mages were milling around in a panic, too scared to act.

"It's headed this way!" Someone yelled. "It's going to trample the guild!"

"Stop yelling!" Cana ordered. "Concentrate on the Shades! Leave that thing to Natsu!"

"But Natsu's in there..." Max observed ."And that's a vehicle."

"Oh." Cana froze. "We're doomed."

* * *

"You gotta be kidding!" Totomaru burst into laughter. "He can't handle vehicles? Finally, a chance to turn the tide of battle!" He lifted his hands, forming a multicolored flame. "My ultimate magic... Rainbow Fire!"

"Curse: Frigid Heaven!"

Totomaru paled when his arm suddenly froze, then his jaw dropped as the ice spread and froze his entire body. "What is this?"

A huge arm lifted the ice block and hurled it through a hole into the sky. "AAAAAAAAH!"

"You don't look too well..." Caster giggled at the sight of Natsu's weakly moving form, while Lucy stood behind the Servant stoically. "What's wrong, Natsu-kun?"

"A man should make vehicles sick, not the other way around!" Elfman declared angrily.

Natsu shot up when the shaking ceased. "It stopped!"

"I'll check what's going on!" Happy shouted, flying out.

The gathered mages watched as the building raised a hand and began drawing a magical seal.

"No way?" Cana gasped. "That thing is a mage too?"

Inside the guild hall, Mira-Shirou shivered. "That's Abyss Break... a forbidden spell!"

Erza grit her teeth. "With a seal this size... everything all the way to the cathedral will be destroyed!"

"The building has transformed and is casting a spell to destroy most of the town!" Happy yelled, flying back inside.

The three mages exchanged a look, then Natsu and Elfman sped off in different directions while Lucy jumped out the window and Caster watched her Master nervously.

"We'll split up and find this guild's power source!"

"It's just one crazy thing after another!"

"Ethernano Displacement..." Lucy cocked her fist as she neared the Abyss Break circle. "Seal Shatter!"

There was a loud crack as she slammed the fist into the seal and a huge gash appeared down the middle, splitting the seal in half before it vanished.

"Yay!" Caster cheered, clapping her arms and jumping in place excitedly. "As expected of my Master!"

A short pause, then...

"Oh no, she's falling! Master, look out!"

* * *

"Mira." Cana leaned by the window. "Good news. Emiya destroyed the Abyss Break seal."

"That's good." Mira-Shirou slumped in relief. "Now we can focus on beating the Element Four."

"The guys on the inside are probably already on it."

Mira frowned. "Natsu's not the only one in there?"

"No." Cana told her. "Emiya, Caster, and Elfman went in to back him up."

"Elfman's in there?" Mira gasped. "He can't fight! You should know that too, Cana! It's fine if it's soldiers like those Shades, but if he goes up against the leaders..."

"I know you and Elfman were both seriously hurt, but Elfman is trying really hard to move past it." Cana explained.

Mira-Shirou clenched her fist and swung the door open as she strode out of the guild, much to everyone's chagrin.

"I'm the one you're after, right?" She shouted at the robot. "Stop attacking the guild right now!"

"Do you honestly think I'd fall for a trick like that?" Jose scowled. "Do you take me for a fool? Disappear, you impostor!"

Mira gasped. "He knew..."

"I was already aware Shirou Emiya wasn't there." Jose continued. "I have seen him get taken away with my own eyes."

Tears appeared in Mira's eyes. "Dammit..."

"Don't worry." Cana reassured her. "Elfman can fight."

* * *

"I will protect Fairy Tail, even if it costs me my life!" Elfman boomed, sprinting down a long hall. "But seriously, what's with this place?"

"Salut!" Sol grinned, twisting out of the floor. "Monsieur Elfman."

Elfman scowled at the new threat.

* * *

"Elfman..." Mira bowed her head, shedding her disguise. "You're in no condition to fight right now..."

A large shadow loomed over her. She didn't even manage to react before the building's arm grabbed her and held her up.

"Mira!"

"Hmmm." Jose frowned. "Attempting to deceive us. I don't think I like you, girl." The fingers tightened, beginning to crush her. "I'll just smash you to pieces."

* * *

"I am Sol of the Earth." The man bowed elegantly. "You may call me Monsieur Sol."

"Great timing." Elfman grunted. "You can tell me how to stop this thing. Beast Arm: Black Bull!" His arm shimmered before turning black and much thicker with muscle.

"Oh?" Sol smirked. "Only your right arm can transform? It seems that what I've heard was accurate... although, my head does contain detail regarding every mage of Fairy Tail and their history."

"Don't you ever shut up?" Elfman shouted, narrowly missing the man with a punch.

"I do believe you had a younger sister, yes?" Sol spun, breaking chunks off of the floor. "Rock Concert!"

The debris smashed into Elfman, who threw his arms up hurriedly to shield himself.

"A while back, you underwent a full Take-Over, but it went wrong and you lost control." Sol grinned. "Your precious little sister gave her life to stop your rampage, isn't that right?"

Elfman glared at him.

"And the trauma you've acquired from that incident has prevented you from being able to perform a full Take-Over ever since." Sol finished, chuckling.

"Beast Arm: Iron Bull!" Elfman roared, changing his limb into a metallic one. Sol grinned, avoiding his punch and twisting around the arm instead.

"Salut." He commented, his contorted face disturbingly close to Elfman's.

"Ugh, what a disgusting guy." Elfman grumbled, pulling at the rubbery body. "Why don't you get off me, you freak?"

Sol twisted away and kicked Elfman in the face, sending him sprawling. "Have we reached the finale already?"

_This guys is a lot stronger than he looks. Well then..._ He growled. _I have no choice but to do it!_

Magic power began to swirl around him as his entire body began to change. Sol grinned when an image of Lisanna entered Elfman's mind and the magic power dissipated, letting him drop to his knees.

"You shouldn't attempt what you cannot achieve!" Sol advised him ."It seems you wasted a lot of magic power in that attempt! Voila!" He landed a two-footed kick in Elfman's stomach.

"It's only natural that I, as a gentleman, end this with my most powerful spell. Platre Sonata!"

The huge fist made of plaster smashed into Elfman, knocking him into the wall and breaking it. Upside-down, his eyes widened as he noticed Mira struggling to escape her confines.

"Nee-chan!" He shot up.

"Oh?" Sol smirked, adjusting his monocle. "Your older sister... are you telling me that the woman out there is the famous Mirajane, once feared as 'Demon Mirajane'? It would seem that her magical power has diminished... what a shame."

"She is currently undergoing punishment for trying to deceive us." He told the horrified boy. "She should be smashed to pieces at any moment now."

"Run..." Mira begged, wincing in pain.

"Nee-chan!" Elfman shouted. "Let her go right now!"

"Stop it!" Mira wailed as Sol smashed Elfman's head into the ground. "I don't care what happens to me, but leave Elfman alone!"

"Will you have to suffer through that again, I wonder." Sol mused. "Such a pity... first you lost your younger sister, and now your older sister will perish in front of your eyes..."

"Elfman!" Mira sobbed. "Run! Please!"

"I... I swore never to see your tears again, Nee-chan." Elfman growled. "So why are you crying?" He shot up, knocking Sol off. "Who was it that made you cry?"

Sol watched in fear as magic power swirled around Elfman's body.

"You can't!" Mira shouted. "You can still use only a single arm!"

Sol grinned. "She's right, you know."

"Lisanna died... because I was too weak." Elfman grunted. "I don't want to feel that way ever again! I want to become a strong man, one who can protect you, Nee-chan!" His skin began to change. "Let Nee-chan go!"

Sol adjusted his monocle in shock as Elfman grew bigger. "This... this is... the full Take-Over: Beast Soul?"

Mira watched in shock as Elfman transformed into a huge beast.

"Non, non, non, non, non, non, non!" Sol wailed. He gave one last weak 'non' when Elfman sent him flying. The large beast roared as it continued to force Sol deeper into the floor with each strike.

"Elfman?" Mira asked softly as he left the still body of Sol behind and ran over to her. "Can you hear me? You didn't lose all reason again, did you?"

She closed her eyes in fear as he reached for her, only to open them again when she felt herself get pulled out. "I'm sorry, Nee-chan..."

Her eyes widened.

"You probably never want to see this face again." Elfman sighed. "It was because I couldn't control this form that Lisanna..."

Mira gaped at him in wonder. "You're in control..."

"There was nothing else I could do." Elfman muttered. "I had to become stronger, or I couldn't protect Fairy Tail or you..."

"It was never your fault that Lisanna died." Mira gave him a sad smile. "Back then, you were also desperate to protect us..."

"I couldn't do it." Elfman whispered as his transformation faded. "And she... Lisanna died..."

"But I'm still alive." Mira hugged him. "We made a decision, didn't we? To live the way she would have wanted us to..."

"Nee-chan!" Elfman wailed. "I'm so glad you're okay!"

Mira sighed. "Honestly, why are you crying?" She shook her head. "Thank you... Elfman."

"We still have two of the Element Four members to take down." Elfman observed, remembering the situation at hand. "The giant's power source must be the Element Four. If we defeat all of them, we'll stop this thing."

* * *

"Whew." Cana sighed in relief. "Looks like Mira's all right."

She dropped to one knee, clutching her head in exhaustion. Then she narrowed her eyes in focus and staggered to her feet, throwing four cards at the same time.

_They're pushing themselves way too hard..._ Macao grinned. _But honestly, I wonder what it is that makes Fairy Tail's women so strong..._

* * *

"Hey, Happy, I've got an idea!" Natsu exclaimed as he sprinted down a long hallway. "If we beat up Jose, this whole battle with be over, right?"

Happy sighed. "Jose's magic is a powerful as Master Makarov's!" He protested. "There's no way you can beat him, Natsu!"

"But Gramps isn't around." Natsu reminded him. "So if not me, then who's going to do it?"

"That's right..." Happy sounded morose. "Master, Erza and Shirou aren't around, in the end someone will have to do it."

"I'm here, aren't I?" Natsu grinned, patting Happy. "Right?"

"Aye!" Happy exclaimed. _I wonder... even though Master, Erza, and Shirou have more powerful magic... something about Natsu just gives people hope..._

Natsu frowned when they ran into a wide room and a whirlwind appeared in front of them.

"How sad..." A voice intoned, as a large man materialized in the vortex. "When the wings of flame rot and fall away... all that remains is a dragon's corpse."

"This guys is one of the Element Four!" Happy warned Natsu.

"I am Aria of the Heavens." The man announced. "I have come to slay the Dragon."

"Have you now?" A new voice wondered. "Allow me to intrude."

Natsu's eyes widened when Lucy blurred past him. Aria also seemed shocked, because he slowly moved his hand to guard, even though her attack had already connected and she was now behind him.

"It has been a while since I used this." Lucy observed, still utilizing her Time Shift: Double Accel as she took out a strange-looking gun. "But I don't have time to waste here, and this is the easiest way to deal with a mage."

And she fired. Due to her vastly superior movement speed, Aria was unable to stop the bullet from piercing him and getting stuck in a bone.

"Th...is...hur...ts..." He mumbled out. "But... I... will... not lose... to someone like... you!"

"You don't even know who I am." Lucy observed as the Time Shift faded away and she could hear him normally again. "But by all means, fight me. Give me all you've got."

_Come on..._ She thought. _Fall for it... use your magic and seal your fate._

"Airspace: Zetsu!" Aria flung his palm out towards her, sending a series of vacuum bullets at her. Lucy's eyes turned a glowing blue color and she quickly whipped out a knife, slicing the attacks apart.

"You were able to dismantle my Airspace: Zetsu..." Aria sounded awed. "But there is no way you can counter this!"

"Airspace: Zero!" Aria ripped off his blindfold and flung both palms out. A large spiral formed around him and small pieces of it began shooting at Lucy. The woman sighed and slashed at them, breaking them apart again.

"This airspace consumes all life." Aria crowed. "There is no way you can last against its' full power!"

"An airspace which consumes life..." Lucy neared him, still cutting apart air bullets. "Let's see how it can hold up... against my eyes, which see death."

Natsu's eyes widened in shocked confusion at that. "Eyes that see death?"

Aria suddenly gasped and coughed up blood as he felt his magical core destabilize, fluctuating wildly. Then there was a burst of magic and he collapsed to the floor, writhing in pain as most of his nervous system broke down.

"So the Origin Bullet kicked in. This is a truly horrible way to die." Lucy knelt by his side and spoke almost reverently. "But your guild supported wiping out an entire city just so your Master could get his hands on some money. I cannot allow such dangerous people to further threaten the innocent with their very existence."

"Even if I were to spare you, you will never walk. Your organs are destroyed, your muscles are tearing themselves apart, and your nervous system has been fried. Perhaps now you understand why I gained the title of Wizard Killer."

Aria's eyes widened in realization when he heard that. "The Council will not let you get away with this, Emiya."

"On the contrary, the Council pays me to do this."

And with that, Lucy shoved a knife through Aria's neck, ending his life.

"That thing you shot him with..." Natsu was trying to understand what happened. "Did it really destroy most of his body from the inside? What was it, anyway?"

"A sure-fire way of killing mages." Lucy explained. "That is all I'll tell you about it."

* * *

"Mou..." Caster pouted, racing across a ceiling-less hallway. "I don't like rain..."

"Drip, drip, drop..." Juvia stepped out and blocked Caster's way. "Yes... Juvia is the Rain Woman of the Element Four."

"I remember you!" Caster pointed at Juvia dramatically. "You're the meanie who kidnapped Shirou-kun! Land of Eternal Bane!"

"To think your allies defeated all the other members of the Element Four..." Juvia sounded impressed and somewhat confused about Caster's last phrase. "However, Juvia is not to be taken lightly."

"I won't take it easy on you!" Caster shouted. "You already ran away from me once, I'm not giving you the chance again!"

"Juvia did not run because of fear, but because of duty." Juvia flung out a hand. "Water Lock!"

"Curse: Fiery Heaven!"

A column of fire burst out around Caster and pushed against the water trying to ensnare the Servant, reducing it to a cloud of thick steam.

"To guard against Juvia's Water Lock with fire magic..." Juvia watched Caster warily. "You are a skilled mage, that's for sure."

"Curse: Frigid Heaven!"

The air around Juvia swirled as it cooled down, then turned into a block of ice that trapped the woman within. Caster's eyes widened when steam began to rise from the ice prison before Juvia melted her way out of it.

"Juvia's body is made of water." The water mage explained. "Juvia can superheat it to near boiling level and quickly escape your ice."

"Farewell, worthy adversary." Juvia waved her arm in an arc, sending several curved lines of water at Caster. "Water Slicer!"

"Mantra..." Caster held out her hands towards the incoming attack. "Aphotic Cave!"

Juvia watched in shock as Caster drained the Water Slicers of their magic power, turning them to normal bursts of water which did nothing apart from soaking the Servant.

"You are powerful." She admitted. "So many different forms of magic. Fire magic, ice magic, and dispelling... Juvia might have to go all out here."

She suddenly bent over and coughed, before slumping to the ground. "Juvia's body won't move... what did you do?"

"Land of Eternal Bane." Caster gloated, approaching Juvia's fallen form. "It spreads a cloud of invisible toxins in the air which attack the nervous system and disable it. Should I wish it, it can even be lethal... but I wouldn't wish that on anyone. It hurts too much."

"You did that... at the very beginning..." Juvia recalled. "You never... planned to fight Juvia... just stall until it worked..."

"Yep!" Caster smiled widely. "The poison doesn't affect anything else. Your organs, muscles, bones, and magical core are all fine, so you can still use magic. You just can't move."

"Where are you heading with this?" Juvia asked curiously, then panicked when Caster lifted her body. "Wait! What are you going to do to Juvia?"

"I really hope your turning-to-water trick works." Caster observed. "Otherwise, this will hurt. A lot."

"Wait, what are you-"

With an apologetic smile, Caster tossed Juvia over the railing and out of the Phantom Lord walking building.

* * *

Gray paled when he saw a body land nearby with a loud crash. Running over, he frowned in puzzlement when he only found a puddle, which was slowly reforming into a fur-clad woman.

"Hey!" He knelt by the woman and examined her carefully. "Are you all right?"

Juvia glanced at him, stared for a moment, then hearts appeared in her eyes and she fainted.

"Looks like they're making headway." Erza observed. "I'm going to go and help them. Are you coming, Gray?"

"You got it. Let's go."

* * *

The summoning chant and Caster's greeting statement are borrowed from Lupine Horror's masterpiece 'Fate's Gamble'. I don't know if that chant is canon or if Lupine Horror made it up, but either way, I do not own it.

NOTE 1: Tamamo will use the same spells she uses in the Fate/Extra game, but some of their effects will be different:

Curse: Fiery Heaven – a pure destructive spell, which blasts a target with a burst of fire.

Curse: Frigid Heaven – a confining spell which grants the target a slow death trapped in an icy prison.

Curse: Chaos Heaven – a weakening spell which saps physical energy and drains the target's magic power.

Mantra: Merciful Sky – greatly boosts Caster's offensive magic power for a short period of time.

Mantra: Aphotic Cave – drains an incoming magic attack of magic energy, which is then restored as Caster's own power.

Land of Eternal Bane – spreads a cloud of poison over an area. The poison is meant to paralyze, although it can be made lethal if Caster wishes it to.

Breath of the Soul – a passive effect. Creates an aura around Caster that doubles the regeneration rate of magic power for anyone in range. Caster is always affected.

Charm: Spirit Theft – steals half of a person's magic energy and adds it to Caster's vast reserves.

Eightfold Blessing of Amaterasu (Noble Phantasm) – locks the enemy's magic power, making them unable to use any magic. In addition, it slows down the target's movement, thought processes, and body functions, essentially making them a sitting duck for Caster's attacks.

And no, I did not overpower Caster's Noble Phantasm. Considering Saber's NP, which took SEVEN of Berserker's lives at once, this is weak. It basically just ensures 100% accuracy with no chance to guard.

NOTE 2: Here's a list of Lucy's magic:

Innate Time Control (from Kiritsugu's crest remains).

Requip Magic.

Ethernano Displacement Magic.

Color Magic (imbued into her ring).

Mystic Eyes of Death Perception (hers turn blue when active, like Shiki Ryougi's).

Chapter 5 will be out soon. Thanks for reading.

Till next time!


	5. Balam Alliance, Strike Two

And here we go, for the 100th time... ok, for the fifth time. It's a new story, this time a cross-over between Fairy Tail and the TYPE-MOON universe (elements of Fate/Zero and Tsukihime). Just like TSCM, this story features a strong Lucy, but apart from that it's completely different.

NOTE: For the purposes of this story, the time line has been adjusted. The events of Tsukihime happened several years before the Fourth Holy Grail War, not during the Fifth War. Also, Ultear will be younger than in canon, while Lucy will be older.

In this story, Lucy's behavior is a mixture of Kiritsugu Emiya's and Shiki Ryougi's. Also, Maiya Emiya is Lucy's alias. Very few people even know her real name, and all of them use her fake name.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any of Nasu Kinoko's works.

* * *

"Caster-san!"

Caster turned to find Elfman and Mira run up to her. "Hey, you two! Guess what... I won! I beat one of them!"

"Is that her down there?" Elfman glanced past the railing to where a group of mages was surrounding an unconscious Juvia. "Nice job."

"That only leaves one!" Mira realized. "Except... he's the toughest one. Aria of the Heavens... it's said that if he opens his eyes, nothing can reach him. That's why he always wears a blindfold and keep his eyes closed."

"Don't worry. He's already down." Caster observed cheerfully.

Mira glanced at the Servant in shock. "How do you know that?"

"Easy!" Caster chirped. "Master went after him! The result is obvious. Nobody is strong enough to face my Master!"

"All of the Element Four are down!" Elfman yelled down to the Fairy Tail mages, receiving a deafening cheer in response. The reinvigorated mages only got more riled up when the Phantom Lord guild hall trembled, before its' legs collapsed and it crashed heavily into the Magnolia bay.

"You pulled it off..." Cana smiled tiredly. "Thanks, guys..."

* * *

"I see we're too late." Erza observed, lowering her sword as she beheld Lucy and Natsu standing some distance away from Aria's corpse. "Maiya-san, I know how you operate, but is it necessary to always leave a trail of corpses in your wake?"

"If they prove dangerous to innocent people, yes."

Gray gave a resigned sigh. "Anyway, all of the Element Four are down. That just leaves Gajeel and Master Jose."

"See, I told you two! My Master would never lose!" Caster cheered, noticing Aria's body as she ran over with Mira and Elfman behind her. Mira took one look at the corpse and went pale.

"You killed him."

"Don't you start about that."

"Erza, Gray, and Natsu... you're here too?" Mira quickly turned away from the disturbing sight and spotted them. "We can really take Master Jose on with all of us against him!"

* * *

"Impossible!" Jose roared. "Those pieces of trash from Fairy Tail managed to take out all of the Element Four?"

"Ah, well..."

"I'm sure there must be some mistake..."

Jose clenched his fists in fury. "Where is Gajeel?"

"Well..." A Phantom Lord mage hesitated. "The truth is... we don't know where he is..."

"I'm here." Gajeel stepped into view. "I planned to go get you Emiya, but he was gone before I found his hideout." Gajeel grinned. "But get this: he's in this very building right now! Want me to go hunt him down for you?"

"With pleasure." Jose chuckled maliciously. "Those trash will learn not to stand against me!"

"No need to search for me." Shirou grunted, entering the room with swords already prepared. "I'm here."

"To all you Fairy Tail members out there." Jose spoke into a loudspeaker, which had been turned on for enough time to broadcast Shirou's arrival. "Shirou Emiya has decided to hand himself over. With that, our first objective has been achieved. There is just one thing left to do... slaughtering the whole lot of you, disgusting brats."

"I'll leave you to handle him." Jose instructed Gajeel. "A few insects seem to have invaded our guild. I will deal with them personally, and let them know it's pointless to expect any more miracles."

* * *

The group's eyes widened when a sudden chill permeated the air.

"What is this feeling?"

"Ugh... I feel a chill unbefitting a man!"

"What is this..."

"My, my..." Slow claps rang out through the room. "What a wonderful show you put on."

Jose grinned and spread his arms wide. "I never expected you to provide me with this much entertainment."

Waves of oppressive magic swept out of him, pressing down on the Fairy Tail mages. Both Gray and Elfman flinched, while Mira looked about to hurl.

"Well then, I must thank you for providing me with this much entertainment." Jose observed. "I've had my fill."

Gray, Natsu, and Elfman stepped forward, preparing to fight. A huge vortex of power surged outwards from Jose, engulfing the three boys and smashing them forcefully into the floor, where they stayed unconscious. The accompanying blast was enough to sweep Mira and Erza away, although Lucy and Caster remained firmly in place, hidden behind Lucy's Ethernano Displacement: Redirect, which made the magic bend around them.

"You're the one who stopped Jupiter earlier." Jose recalled. "Tell me, who are you, girl?"

"Me?" Lucy took out a knife and her eyes turned a vivid blue shade. "I'm Lucy Heartfilia, the one you've been searching for. I happen to go by a different name nowadays, though... does Maiya Emiya sound familiar to you?"

"Emiya..." Jose paled in recognition. "Of course, how did I not figure that out... Shirou's sister Lucy Heartfilia changed her name to Maiya Emiya. They even share the same family name... I must have had blinders on my eyes to not make the connection!"

"Wait..." His eyes stretched to incredible width when something occurred to him. "Maiya Emiya... isn't that-"

"You're quite slow." Lucy was already next to him, swinging a knife which he barely dodged. "But you guessed it. I'm the Wizard Killer."

"The Council's pet weapon!" Jose let out a scream of mirth. "Do you think you can fight on par with me? I am one of the Ten Wizard Saints!"

"That boast means nothing to me... number eight." Lucy spun away from a dark blast and threw her knife, cutting deeply into his arm. "After all, if my math is right, as number seven I outrank you, even if only by a slight margin."

"They're both messing around... I doubt I could keep something like that up against either of them." Erza, being the only one conscious apart from Caster, observed in awe as Lucy slid past Jose and retrieved her knife. "Any mistake could cost one of them the battle, and they're not even serious about it... is this what a fight between two Wizard Saints is like?"

* * *

Sword clashed against club as Shirou and Gajeel met in the middle of the room, creating a shockwave.

"You're not half bad." Gajeel smirked, dodging a barrage of swords. "But is creating and using swords all you can do?"

"It's enough." Shirou shot back, forming Erigor's scythe in his hand and swinging it at Gajeel.

"Iron Dragon's Sword!"

"And you whined about me using swords." Shirou shook his head, amused. "Trace... on."

An exact replica of Gajeel's sword formed in his hand... well, exact except for the fact that it was a separate weapon, instead of being a transformation of his arm.

"Tch." Gajeel scoffed. "You're just a copycat. A mere faker. Try copying this! Iron Dragon's Roar!"

"Rho Aias!"

A flower-like shield formed in front of Shirou, taking the Roar head on. Gajeel managed to break through two of the shield's seven layers before his Roar ran out of power and he began panting heavily.

"What was that, Emiya?"

"A shield projection." Shirou looked amused. "Nee-san had an associate of hers drop off a book about legendary weapons in my house. It gave me a lot of ideas."

"Heh." Gajeel grinned. "This might be interesting after all! Iron Dragon's Sword!"

"Trace... on!"

Gajeel's arm smashed into a pair of black and white falchions. The black one shot out of Shirou's hand and went spinning overhead, while Shirou managed to hold on to the white one.

"You're tougher than I gave you credit for." Gajeel admitted. "But those legendary weapons you can make don't seem to do much for you, huh?"

Shirou stared back calmly, before his lip twitched into a smile. Gajeel's senses screamed at him to move and he dodged just in time to avoid the black falchion skewering him from behind.

"So you had a trick like that up your sleeve... fascinating. Bring it on, Shirou of the Infinite Sword!"

* * *

"Looks like I should end this soon..."

Jose blinked, confused... then his world became pain. He was dimly aware of Lucy simultaneously activating her Time Shift: Triple Accel at the same time she used Ethernano Displacement: Expel to eject most of his magic power from his body, and that was due to the knife that had just taken off his left arm at the shoulder and left him spraying blood from the stump as his vision became shaky and blurred.

"Maiya... Emiya..." He coughed up more blood. "To think... you were this strong..."

"You were just arrogant." Lucy looked down at him as he collapsed in a pool of his own blood. "But that worked for me just fine. As a representative of the Council, I judge you guilty of kidnapping, blackmail, destruction of property, assault on several mages, and most importantly, inciting conflict between two official guilds."

"Your punishment is simple and irrevocable." She crouched in front of his dulling eyes. "I'll watch you bleed out until you've perished. And trust me, without some really quick medical aid you will die shortly."

"Emiya..." Jose rasped, looking terrified. "Please... save me. I... I don't want... to die..."

"I'm sorry, did you say something?" Lucy stood up and regarded him coldly. "Did the person who tried to kidnap my brother and steal all of my money really just ask me to help him live?"

Jose's eyes widened when he felt her anger, then he almost chuckled at the vain hope he'd had for a moment. A few seconds later, he closed his eyes forever as his blood levels fell below what is necessary to sustain a body.

* * *

"Caladbolg!"

A huge explosion shook what remained of the Phantom Lord guild hall, before Gajeel's smoking body fell out of a hole in the wall and crashed to the ground.

"Shirou Emiya..." He rasped, thoroughly beaten. "I just can't keep up... with his arsenal..."

And with that, he fainted.

"What the..." The Fairy Tail mages watched in awe as the Phantom Lord building crumbled into the water. "Phantom's been..."

Shirou stepped out into the open, breathing hard but otherwise fine. The gathered mages burst into cheers and applause.

* * *

"I was too late, it seems." Makarov walked in to see Lucy step away from Jose's body while Erza woke up the other mages. "Yet another notch on your headboard, eh, Emiya?"

"It was incredible, master!" Erza was in awe. "She burst into motion so fast I could only see a blur, then Master Jose had his arm cut off at the same time his magic power erupted out of him. I don't even know what happened!"

"As expected of my Master!" Caster chimed in, jumping up and down with excitement.

"Such a waste... he had a lot of potential for one so young." Makarov looked down. "But he, like countless others before him, paid for choosing to commit crimes by meeting the Wizard Killer."

"We Wizard Saints sure are a diverse lot." He chuckled humorlessly. "Why, among us there's an old guild master looking out for his children, a twisted man willing to do anything because of greed and lust for power, and a cold heartless assassin under the Council's control. And yet we're all classed as 'Saints'... don't you see the irony?"

"I'll agree with the cold assassin, but not with the heartless part." Lucy observed softly. "I did only get involved because they targeted my brother, after all. Kiritsugu might have set me on the path I walk, but Shirou's presence ensures that I don't lose sight of myself while on that path."

A rare smile lit up her face. "Let's go home, everyone. This has been a tiring day."

"Hai, Master!"

* * *

"Wow..." Makarov looked up at the ruined Fairy Tail building. "This got trashed pretty badly."

Shirou nodded. "Something like that is well beyond my ability to repair."

"I can cover the rebuilding expenses." Lucy cut in, getting everyone's attention. "My fortune was partly the cause of this, I'd feel strange if I didn't use it to fix things."

Makarov looked elated. "Talking like that, it's almost like you're a Fairy Tail member! Now if only you'd restrain yourself from killing criminals... the Council and the kingdom do have prisons, after all."

"The Council prisons are almost empty..." Lucy admitted. "But the Council is in no rush to fill them."

"The Council..." Makarov sighed. "They're going to be really angry about this, huh..."

"Not really." Lucy countered. "While I am primarily the Council's assassin, I am authorized to lead and perform investigations too. And having seen first-hand most of the important events during this fight, I can already say I have sufficient information to declare this case closed."

She glanced at Makarov. "So there's nothing to worry about, Makarov-san."

There was a short pause, then...

"Three cheers for Maiya-san!"

"Yeah!"

* * *

"Maiya-san didn't want to come?"

"No." Shirou sighed, waving the resort tickets Loke gave him. "She said she was on an important assignment and that the guild war sidetracked her enough already."

"Assignment?" Erza raised an eyebrow. "Did she tell you any details?"

"No..." Shirou shook his head. "I just hope she comes back. She sounded a bit worried when I last spoke to her."

* * *

"So there you are." Lucy frowned as she looked up at her target. "It took me a whole week to track you guys down... Grimoire Heart."

A huge ominous black airship hovered over her, casting everything around in shadow.

* * *

"It seems we have an intruder." Hades observed calmly. "Maiya Emiya has snuck on board. Find her and bring her to me alive."

A sinister grin lit up his face. "She does not have to be unharmed, though."

* * *

"I found you." A tall goat-like man in an elegant suit and wearing sunglasses nodded to Lucy. "Wizard Killer Emiya... I cannot permit you to get any closer to Hades-sama."

"I see..." Lucy narrowed her eyes. "You must be Capricorn. I extracted all the information about Spirits from Gemini that they knew, and you match the description."

"You do not want to fight me." She warned him, slipping into a stance. "My Ethernano Displacement magic will kill you with a single hit if it connects, given what you are."

"I would like to see you try."

Lucy watched as he charged at her, preparing to smash a hand into her ribcage...

"Time Shift: Triple Stagnate!" She yelled, then continued before it took hold. "Ethernano Displacement: Expel!"

A huge cloud of magic burst out of Lucy, slamming into Capricorn and fading into his body. The goatman's eyes widened as he felt his body slow down to incredible levels.

"Wh... at... did... you... do...?" He droned out.

"Attacks in my Triple Accel can still be guarded against if my opponent is skilled enough in close combat." Lucy explained, speaking very slowly to match the rate her enemy processed what he heard things in. "So instead, I can bait my opponents in by purposely lowering my guard, then hitting them with a combo of Triple Stagnate and Ethernano Displacement: Expel, which will basically eject the stagnation-inducing magic particles out of me, causing them to engulf my opponent instead."

"I cannot waste more time on you, and I have no use for you." She placed a hand on the struggling man's head. "Disappear, Capricorn. Ethernano Displacement: Expel!"

Her eyes widened in surprise when instead of Capricorn being blown to nothing, a screaming image of a short man shot out of the Spirit.

"I have my body back!" The specter cheered. "At last, I'm in my own body!"

His jubilation faded and he panicked when his body began to disperse into the air. "No! Wait! What is happening to me? Stop this!"

"I must thank you for freeing me." Capricorn watched the man vanish, before turning to Lucy and kneeling before her. "Now, if you'll excuse me... I have been kept in this world for seventeen years and wish to return to the Spirit Realm. As I am currently without a master, please accept this key as a token of my gratitude."

He handed Lucy a small golden key, then bowed and vanished.

* * *

"Curse: Chaos Heaven!"

Zancrow gave a yell of shocked disbelief as he fell to his knees, utterly spent.

"You shouldn't have attacked me with flames." Caster gloated. "Fire magic is very easy for me to guard against."

Zancrow grit his teeth as he struggled to stand up and fight on. "Hades-sama chose to give me the magic to slay gods! I cannot be defeated by a creature like you!"

"Magic to slay gods?" Caster's smile faded. "Foolish mortal, a human will _never _be able to face off against a god, no matter what magic they may know."

"For your insolence, you shall suffer." Caster scowled, breathing out a cloud of faintly green gas. "Land of Eternal Bane."

The gas enveloped Zancrow and he screamed when his body started to melt away.

"That spell is usually nonlethal, meant to be a capture method." Caster watched his body get eaten away. "But I can also make it corrosive, resulting in a realm of agony for my opponent before the sweet release of death finally takes them."

"This is what you get for daring to challenge a true god."

* * *

"She is quite strong." Hades commented, unconcerned. "And she has a companion helping her out. Each of them has already killed one of my Seven Kin."

"Ultear, remain here." He commanded the woman. "Bluenote, I would prefer to keep you idle, but I'm afraid I don't have that luxury."

The man grinned. "Finally, some action!"

"If two more of the Seven Kin fall, feel free to kill both intruders."

"Gotcha."

"Hades-sama..." Ultear looked hesitant. "What about Meledy?"

* * *

"Hey, I need your help!"

Meledy turned to find Ultear stumbling towards her. "What's wrong? Was it the Wizard Killer?"

"She's much stronger than I expected." Ultear panted. "I managed to keep her at bay until reinforcements showed up, but it wasn't easy. Capricorn is dead."

"You mean Caprico." Meledy studied Ultear carefully for a moment, before nodding. "If we get all the other Seven Kin to fight her at once, there's no way she can hold out against us!"

Meledy took notice of Ultear's injuries. "But first, we must get those taken care of! They might not be much, but they're still injuries!"

Ultear gave a relieved sigh. "Thank you."

"Anything for you, Ur."

Ultear nodded and turned to head down the corridor, before she found a blade of energy held under her chin and lightly pushing into the skin of her neck.

"I knew it." Meledy hissed out. "You're not my dear Ultear. Who are you? Are you Emiya? What did you do to Ultear?"

"You're sharp." 'Ultear' smiled humorlessly. "What gave me away?"

"First, you got Caprico's name wrong. Then you didn't react to the name Ur. Ultear hates her mother's name, she would have yelled or glared at me if I called her that."

The blade under the fake Ultear's chin cut into her neck slightly, causing a surge of pain to go through the woman. Her hand inched towards her pocket slowly, but Meledy did not notice.

"Now answer my questions." Meledy demanded. "You're Emiya, aren't you? What did you do to my Ultear? If you hurt her, I'll kill you!"

"I did not face Ultear yet." Lucy observed, letting her Color magic fade and restoring her normal hair and eye color. "However, I am planning to do so very soon. And as for you killing me..."

In the blink of an eye, Lucy leaned back to put distance between herself and the light sword. At the same time, her hand shot out and her knife found itself hilt-deep in Meledy's chest. The girl gave a sigh of surprise before falling back, instantly dead.

"Her mother's name... Ultear's mother was Ur?" Lucy looked shocked at this development. "Could she... could she be Kiritsugu's daughter?"

* * *

"Meledy has just died." Hades informed Ultear, who paled and clenched her fists in helpless rage before storming off.

"Just one more, old man."

Hades sighed. "Yes, I am aware."

* * *

"And who are you supposed to be?"

"I am Kain Hikaru!" The huge man shouted. "I am looking for Maiya Emiya so that I can kill her! Have you seen her? Wait, who are you anyway?'

"Mou... I get all the weirdos." Caster grumbled. "I don't have time to deal with this. Curse: Frigid Heaven!"

"I made the ice extra thick just for you." She told the ice-encased Kain as she passed by him. "Your body should give out to the cold in about two minutes."

* * *

"Even Kain?" Hades raised an eyebrow. "Emiya is more efficient than I thought..."

He glanced at Bluenote's empty seat and frowned. "At least this farce will end soon."

* * *

Lucy turned away from the bodies of a humanoid dog and talking chicken. "I get all the weirdos..."

"So you are Maiya Emiya, the Wizard Killer." A tall man stepped out a shadow to greet her. "Greetings. My name is Azuma. I wish to request a one-on-one battle with you."

"Well, since I am here to kill all of you..." Lucy nodded. "I accept. Shall we begin?"

"Gladly." Azuma waved an arm at her and a column of fire erupted from under her feet. His eyes widened when the fire burnt out, revealing Lucy safely surrounded by an iridescent bubble.

"Ethernano Displacement: Repel." Lucy explained. "It guards me from magical substances, no matter which direction they come from."

"Impressive." Azuma nodded, looking excited. "It has been a while since I've had a good fight, and something tells me I'm in luck today. However... as my magic is partly earth-based, I am at a disadvantage since we are high in the air on a moving vehicle. I propose a close combat match to determine the stronger of us two. Winner takes the loser's life."

"An honorable request, one which I can easily follow." Lucy strode forward to shake Azuma's hand before the fight began. Azuma smiled and reached out to accept the handshake, only to find himself pulled forward and kneed between his legs.

"I can easily accept your idea, but I won't." Lucy finished. Azuma's eyes widened when he realized he got tricked, then dimmed when Lucy broke his neck.

"Too bad..." She sliced out a hole in the airship wall and tossed Azuma's corpse out. "He was the most tolerable among this whole bunch of rejects. That leaves two of the Seven Kin and Hades himself."

* * *

"Come to me, Tower of Dingir!"

Caster squealed in alarm when a large construct shot out of the floor, with her trapped in the stone wall with only her chest, arms and head sticking out of it.

"Crush this misled interloper with your sadness!" Rustyrose commanded. "And bring her falling down to earth with your weight!"

He frowned and turned to one side, his eyes narrowing. "Looks like something obnoxious just got let loose..."

He sighed and turned back to the trapped Servant. "No matter... now perish!"

"Mantra..." Caster whispered as the pillar began to shine. "Aphotic Cave."

Rustyrose's eyes widened behind his glasses when the tower stopped glowing, before crumbling to pieces. "The tower collapsed..."

"Yep!" Caster took out an ornate mirror. "To think you would push me as far as to use this..."

The mirror became enveloped in swirling multicolored light. Rustyrose watched with wide eyes as strange red gates and glowing spell tags surrounded Caster, all wreathed in ethereal purple energy.

"Beautiful..." He whispered, looking around. "Even I couldn't imagine something like this..."

"Thank you." Caster nodded. "God who resides in Izumo..."

* * *

"You must be Ultear."

The last of the Seven Kin glared at Lucy hatefully. "Did you kill Meledy?"

"The pink-haired girl? Yes." Lucy nodded. "In my defense, she did hold a sword to my neck. I responded in kind."

Ultear clenched her fists in fury. "You-"

"More importantly, answer me something." Lucy cut across Ultear's unfinished insult. "You should be twelve years old right now. What did you do to yourself to look so old?"

"How did you know I aged my body?" Ultear took a step back in shock. "The only people who would know something like that would be those who knew my mother..."

Her eyes widened. "Or my father..."

"Your mother was Ur Milkovich." Lucy began. "Your father was Kiritsugu Emiya."

Ultear recalled the single photo Ur had of Kiritsugu. "That man... he left us! He left me and my weak mother to fend for ourselves!"

"You!" She screamed at Lucy. "Who are you? How do you know all this? What's your connection to me?"

"Ultear Milkovich." Lucy stepped forward until she towered over Ultear. "You... are my half-sister."

Ultear blinked; she did not expect that. "What?"

"Kiritsugu Emiya was my adoptive father." Lucy explained. "He and I lived with my half-brother Shirou in the same northern village Ur lived in. Your mother fell in live with Kiritsugu and for a long time tried to have a relationship with him. He caved in at some point and slept with her. Then, cursing himself for giving in and believing himself unworthy of Ur, he took me and Shirou and we left the village that very same night."

"He died soon after that, never knowing he had you." Lucy added. "If he'd known, I do not doubt we would have gone back there. He hated his weakness, but would do anything for his children."

"So..." Ultear struggled to find the words. "If he'd known, he would have loved me?"

"I'm certain." Lucy nodded, before her eyes narrowed. "And now answer my first question. Why are you not twelve like you should be?"

"When Hades-sama took me in..." Ultear wiped away tears. "He allowed me to learn the Arc of Time. I wanted to use it to go back in time to meet my mother and... actually, I don't know what I would have done then. Anyway, I found a spell there that would make my magical core mature faster, so I used it. My body changing accordingly was an unexpected side effect."

"I see..." Lucy mused thoughtfully. "You look nineteen, about my age... well, enough of that. Will you get out of my way or do I have to fight you, _sister_?"

"Grimoire Heart is finished, regardless of if I stop you or not." Ultear spoke slowly, hesitantly. "If I... would you agree to let me join you? I always wanted to know exactly who my father was..."

"You realize I'll be watching you carefully until I'm reassured you don't mean me harm, right?" Lucy asked, getting a quick nod in return. "Then it's fine. I think Hades is the only real enemy left, so I can leave Gemini to handle him."

As if on cue, the Spirit materialized next to Lucy and turned into an exact copy of her.

"Your orders are simple." Lucy told her double. "Kill Hades, blow this airship up, then dispel."

"Roger." Gemini nodded and sped off.

"As for us..." Lucy's eyes turned blue and she traced a line on the airship wall, creating a large hole in it. "Let's leave. After you."

* * *

Caster turned away from the torn-apart Rustyrose and began walking away. "I think that's all seven... Master ran into four opponents, I met three... that should be all of them."

She rounded the corner and noticed an immobile man, moving very slowly and looking as if he had trouble stringing two words together.

"My... magic..." The man groaned. "It's... gone..."

"Oh?" Caster studied him, puzzled, before grinning widely. "So there was one more strong person on this ship... and he got caught in my Noble Phantasm's range too? Go me!"

She quickly trapped the man in ice to make him die and, whistling merrily, continued on.

* * *

"So this is how it ends..." Ultear watched a smoking black airship plummet down until it hit the sea with a huge splash and quickly sank down.

"Yep!" Caster cheered. "Master, I had fun today! When do we get another mission?"

"Not for a while." Lucy couldn't stop a smile from forming as she spoke to her exuberant Servant. "I requested indefinite leave after this job, and I got it. We're just going to go get Shirou from Magnolia, and then it's off to Fuyuki for the Holy Grail War."

Ultear blinked at the unfamiliar term. "The Holy Grail War?"

"Oh, right, you don't know." Lucy realized. "Well, I'll explain later, but I suggest you come to Fuyuki with us."

"Why?"

"It's simple." Lucy told Ultear. "If you want to learn more about Kiritsugu... the best start would be visiting the place where he lived."

Ultear nodded and focused for a moment, before sighing. "There was just one thing to take care of... since I don't work for Hades anymore, it was unnecessary."

* * *

Elsewhere, four mages had just brought a captive Erza out of a boat onto an island where a tall tower stood.

The largest of them glanced ahead and his eyes widened. "You... why are you here?"

"There is no further need for this tower." His boss explained. "Leave this place and never return. I have already released the other workers."

He turned to the captive woman. "It is good to see you again... Erza."

For the first time since she escaped, Erza saw Jellal smile without malice.

* * *

NOTE 1: Tamamo will use the same spells she uses in the Fate/Extra game, but their effects will be slightly different:

Curse: Fiery Heaven – a pure destructive spell, which blasts a target with a burst of fire.

Curse: Frigid Heaven – a confining spell which grants the target a slow death trapped in an icy prison.

Curse: Chaos Heaven – a weakening spell which saps physical energy and drains the target's magic power.

Mantra: Merciful Sky – greatly boosts Caster's offensive magic power for a short period of time.

Mantra: Aphotic Cave – drains an incoming magic attack of magic energy, which is then restored as Caster's own power.

Land of Eternal Bane – spreads a cloud of poison over an area. The poison is meant to paralyze, although it can be made lethal if Caster wishes it to.

Breath of the Soul – a passive effect. Creates an aura around Caster that doubles the regeneration rate of magic power for anyone in range. Caster is always affected.

Charm: Spirit Theft – steals half of a person's magic energy and adds it to Caster's vast reserves.

Eightfold Blessing of Amaterasu (Noble Phantasm) – locks the enemy's magic power, making them unable to use any magic. In addition, it slows down the target's movement, thought processes, and body functions, essentially making them a sitting duck for Caster's attacks. Its' range is large enough to affect 100 people.

And no, I did not overpower Caster's Noble Phantasm. Considering Saber's NP, which took SEVEN of Berserker's lives at once, this is weak. It basically just ensures 100% accuracy with no chance to guard.

There are two other tricks she will use, but those will be revealed in due time.

NOTE 2: Here's a list of Lucy's magic:

Innate Time Control (from Kiritsugu's crest remains).

Requip Magic.

Ethernano Displacement Magic.

Color Magic (imbued into her ring).

Mystic Eyes of Death Perception (hers turn blue when active, like Shiki Ryougi's).

* * *

Chapter 6 will be out soon. Thanks for reading.

Till next time!


	6. The First Casualty of the War

And here we go, for the 100th time... ok, for the fifth time. It's a new story, this time a cross-over between Fairy Tail and the TYPE-MOON universe (elements of Fate/Zero and Tsukihime). Just like TSCM, this story features a strong Lucy, but apart from that it's completely different.

**NOTE: For the purposes of this story, the time line has been adjusted. The events of Tsukihime happened several years before the Fourth Holy Grail War, not during the Fifth War. Also, Ultear will be younger than in canon, while Lucy will be older.**

**In this story, Lucy's behavior is a mixture of Kiritsugu Emiya's and Shiki Ryougi's. Also, Maiya Emiya and Irisviel Emiya are Lucy's aliases. Very few people even know her real name, and all of them use one of her fake names.**

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any of Nasu Kinoko's works.

* * *

Lucy's eye twitched.

"Shirou..." She began, clearly exasperated. "Why are you covered in bandages?"

"Master's grandson Laxus set up a battle royale with him as the final opponent." Shirou explained, wincing as Caster poked at the bandaged areas. "I ended up fighting and beating one of his helpers, but not before I got dropped off a building."

"I swear, it's one thing after another." Lucy grumbled. "Anyway, I notified Zelretch and he should be taking us to Fuyuki shortly. Which reminds me... Shirou, the woman hanging back is Kiritsugu and Ur's daughter Ultear. She'll be coming with us to see Kiritsugu's home."

"Is that where we'll be staying?"

"Yes." Lucy nodded, not even blinking when an old man appeared out of thin air next to her. "Hello, Zelretch. Shall we go?"

"If you're sure." Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg nodded. "It'll be the four of you, eh? Ok, just a moment..."

In a shimmer of air, all five of them vanished without a trace.

* * *

"Two months!" Lucy raged, pacing around angrily the living room of the Emiya residence in Fuyuki. "That damn vampire dropped us off two months before the War starts!"

"How do you know?"

"He told me." Lucy grumbled. "Damn Dead Apostle... when I see him again..."

Ultear raised a curious eyebrow. "Dead Apostle?"

"A sort of vampire rank." Lucy waved her off. "I don't really know how they categorize themselves. Still... if you're that curious, I'll contact my dad's teacher-of-sorts. She works for an institution that keeps watch over that stuff, so she'll be able to tell you more."

Shirou blinked. "Your dad? You mean..."

"Shiki Tohno, yes." Lucy nodded. "Anyway, I guess I'll scout out the city. It never hurts to be prepared, and knowing the layout will put us on equal footing with the Tohsaka and Matou Masters."

"Tohsaka? Matou? Masters?" Ultear was confused. "What is going on?"

"You explain, Shirou." Lucy told her brother. "I'll be off now. Before I go... we do have two months of a normal life. Should I enroll you in a local school?"

Shirou considered that for a moment. "Yeah." He decided finally. "That'd be nice."

* * *

Not long after Lucy came back from signing Shirou up for high school and scouting the city, there was an unexpected sound. A key turned in a lock and the door slipped open, revealing a woman in a striped shirt with short brown hair.

"Eeek!" The intruder quickly jumped back, slipping into a stance which was visibly meant to be used in sword fighting. "Who are you people?"

"I didn't know anyone lived here." Lucy frowned, analyzing the woman cautiously. "I'm Maiya Emiya, daughter of Kiritsugu. And you are?"

The woman relaxed a little. "I'm Taiga Fujimura. Who are the others? Wait..."

She peered at Shirou intently, then rushed forward and crushed him in a hug. "Shirou-kun! My, you've grown up! Where have you been all this time? And where's Lucy-chan? Isn't she with you?"

"Now I remember..." Lucy nodded in realization. "You came by a few times before we moved away with Kiritsugu."

"Eeeh?" Taiga turned to her, shocked. "Are you Lucy-chan? You look so different! And what was with the 'Maiya Emiya' thing?"

"I changed my name and image over the years." Lucy simplified. "Fujimura-san, let me also introduce Caster, an old friend of Kiritsugu, and Ultear, a work associate of mine."

"Pleased to meet you." Taiga bowed to the two women (Caster had hidden her ears and tail for the moment), then turned back to Lucy. "Work? Lucy-chan, you're barely out of school! What about college?"

Lucy shrugged. "I landed a well-paying job straight out of high school, so I never saw the need for further education." She lied smoothly.

Taiga nodded, accepting that. "And you, Shirou-kun? What about your education?"

"I already enrolled him at Homurahara High School." Lucy cut in. "It was actually the first thing I did when we came here."

"At Homurahara?" Taiga looked elated. "I teach there! Shirou-kun, we're going to have a lot of fun! Are you planning to join the Archery Club? I lead it, you know."

"I'll pass." Shirou smiled. "But I look forward to your classes... Fuji-nee."

"Mou..." Taiga pouted. "You still remember that name..."

"Anyway!" Her personality once again did a one-eighty. "I'm hungry and it's almost time for dinner! Sakura should come by soon to make us all something!"

Lucy narrowed her eyes. "Who's Sakura?"

"Sakura Matou, of course!" Taiga explained, drooling a little. "She's a student at Homurahara and a member of my Archery Club and her food is incredible! She comes here most of the time to cook!"

"Matou..." Lucy muttered thoughtfully. "We're either very lucky or in over our heads here..."

"Hey, if you're a student at my school now, that makes you Sakura's sempai!" Taiga observed gleefully. "Make sure not to embarrass me, ok, Shirou?"

"Um... ok?"

"Great!" Taiga chirped. "Dinner will be soon after Sakura comes here!"

"Actually..." Caster spoke up for the first time since Taiga showed up. "Shirou-kun can also cook quite well."

"I'm about average." Shirou countered, before noticing Caster and surprisingly Lucy stare at him while drooling a little, and sighed. "But sure... I guess I can whip something up."

A few minutes later, a quite beautiful girl with purple hair and matching but blank-looking eyes came in. She nodded to Taiga in greeting and looked a little surprised when she noticed Lucy, Ultear and Caster seated around the dinner table, but accepted their explanation and traded introductions quickly enough before heading to the kitchen. She came back a moment later, looking confused.

"Sensei..." Sakura sounded put out. "There's someone in the kitchen already, and he's not letting me do anything..."

"That's my brother Shirou." Lucy explained. "Don't worry, his food is quite good."

"You were drooling earlier, Lucy."

"I have no recollection of any such event."

"That's Shirou Emiya, the son of a friend of mine." Taiga cheered. "He's going to be your sempai at Homurahara, so get used to him!"

"Sem... pai?" Sakura blinked once, before smiling and nodding. "Ok, Fujimura-sensei. If you say so."

A minute later Shirou came out with several pots of food and put them down in the center of the table, giving out servings to everyone. Sakura watched in surprise as Lucy and Caster wolfed down their portions instantly and heaped second helpings on their plates. Taiga and Ultear had similar reactions, taking a bite each before practically inhaling everything they had and demanding more.

Sakura took a tentative bite and chewed a little, before her eyes widened. While she'd often been told by Taiga that she was a skilled cook, none of her dishes had tasted this good.

"Aha!" Caster cheered, watching Sakura speed up her eating. "You have another convert, Shirou-kun!"

"Ano..." Sakura hesitated, pushing her plate away in a gesture which meant she was full. "Could you show me how you made that... Sempai?"

"Sure." Shirou nodded. "I have school for most of the day, but I can share my recipes with you in the evenings."

"Thank you." Sakura stood up and bowed. "Please take care of me, Sempai."

* * *

As the two months slowly passed, Lucy and Caster periodically scouted the city for any signs of magi or enemy Masters and Servants, Ultear explored every part of the Emiya residence and often talked with Taiga about what kind of man Kiritsugu was, and Shirou and Sakura gradually grew closer. Lucy was wary of this development, but didn't openly disapprove, something which Shirou was grateful for.

During their patrols, Lucy and Caster found a huge mansion hidden away in a nearby forest. Caster had sensed a Servant in there and the two fled quickly, preferring to avoid an unplanned encounter with what Caster suspected was a Berserker. They did get to see the Tohsaka girl, and since she was the last of her family, she was the only possibility for that family's Master.

"Ok." Lucy wrote out all that they managed to find out. "So we have Tohsaka, who hasn't summoned a Servant yet, and a Berserker whose Master lives in that huge mansion in the forest outside the city. There's a leyline under that temple on the hill, bounded fields around the Tohsaka and Matou residences, and a large contaminated area where the final battle of the last War was held."

"The Church's supervisor is Kirei Kotomine, one of the last War's participants." She continued. "We're supposed to report to him once our Servants are summoned, but I didn't and I advise you not to either, Shirou."

"Why?"

"In his journal, Kiritsugu described Kotomine as the most dangerous opponent in the War." Lucy frowned. "After his Servant died, he supposedly betrayed the Tohsaka Master and made a new contract with Tohsaka's Servant, who was supportive and partly responsible for the whole thing. I would prefer to have nothing to do with that man."

"Anyway, the Holy Grail is about to begin." She put her notes away. "While I plan to avoid Kotomine, I will be keeping watch on the Church. Other Masters might go there to notify him of their participation and it could be a good chance to see who we might be facing."

"Ok." Shirou nodded. "Be careful, Nee-san."

* * *

"Looks like I was right not to trust that man." Lucy watched in shock mingled with anger as a woman with a missing left hand lay in the enclosed space behind the church, bleeding out slowly. "Now... what to do, what to do..."

Making her mind up, she crept over to the woman and examined her. She was quite young, probably in her mid-twenties, dressed in a crisp brown suit, and sporting short dark pink hair.

"I should be able to save her life if I deal with the bleeding quickly." Lucy muttered thoughtfully. "Question is, should I? She was an enemy Master..."

"Ah, screw it." She quickly tore off part of her coat and tied it around the stump, before hoisting the woman over her shoulder and speeding off as quietly as she could.

* * *

"You are not going to intervene?"

"Those lowlifes can fool around with each other if they wish." A man in golden armor observed, watching Lucy flee with the woman. "I will be the victorious one in the end anyway, so I can let this play out for now."

He tilted his head towards the priest. "Besides, didn't you get what you wanted from that woman already?"

"I did." Kirei looked down at three Command Seals. "I most certainly did."

* * *

Bazett awoke to find her stump of an arm carefully cleaned and properly bandaged. Sitting up and wincing as pain flared through her body, she looked around the unfamiliar room. It looked cared for but unused, as there was very little furniture and no personal items there.

"Ah, you're awake. How are you feeling?"

Bazett turned to the speaker and instantly shot out of bed, then almost collapsed as her body protested the sudden movement.

"You..." She spoke through gritted teeth. "You are a Servant?"

"Servant Caster at your service." Caster giggled, giving a curtsey. "No need to be afraid of me. After all, you aren't a Master anymore so there's no reason for us to fight."

Bazett nodded, sensing the truth in her words, and straightened up. "I must thank you for treating me."

"It wasn't me, silly." Caster smiled. "My Master found you and brought you here, then her brother took care of you."

"I see." Bazett thought for a moment. "May I meet your Master?"

"Sure thing!" Caster turned to leave. "Follow me."

* * *

_Danger!_ Bazett's instincts screamed at her. _Danger! DANGER! Get away!_

The woman on the other side of the table lowered her mug of tea and eyed Bazett coldly. "So you were Lancer's Master then? And you claim that the priest Kotomine took your arm when you went to inform him of your participation?"

Bazett looked down. "I trusted him. Many among the Enforcers spoke highly of him and I saw him as someone who could help me out a lot during the War."

"I do not tolerate fools." Lucy observed, her face darkening. "In a fight like this War, there is no one other than yourself that you can trust without a very good reason. I, for example, trust only my half-brother, who I've known for much of my life, and my Servant, who has repeatedly proven herself in battle. I would not trust anyone just because someone else speaks highly of that person. I do not even trust my half-sister. I erased such lines of thought from my brother and I could do the same with you... but why should I bother? Once you're healed, leave this place and go back to the Enforcers. Tell them how you were foolish enough to lose in the War before it even started."

"I could be useful!" Bazett protested. "Even without an arm, I'm still a good fighter!"

Lucy raised an eyebrow. "And why would you even want to help me?"

"You saved my life, didn't you?" Bazett observed. "The Fraga are a honorable family. I'd feel indebted to you for that, no matter how lowly you think of me or how much you slight me."

"I... will think about that." Lucy conceded. "For now, you may use the room you were in until you fully recover from your ordeal. I'll have my brother bring you something to eat later."

Bazett nodded. "Thank you."

* * *

There was a huge crash from upstairs. Baffled, Rin Tohsaka sped up the stairs to find her dining room a complete wreck. A tall man with white hair and clad in a red coat over black armor sat in the middle of the devastation, seemingly without a care in the world.

It took a while before Rin understood exactly what she was seeing.

"So..." She finally forced out. "What are you?"

"What a nice greeting." The man smirked. "It seems I have a terrible Master. Maybe even the worst one in the War."

Rin ignored that. "I'm just checking, but you are my Servant, right?"

"I should be asking you." The man countered. "Are you really my Master? This is the first time this happened when I was summoned, so I'd like to make sure what's going on."

"It's also my first time, so I can't answer that."

"I see..." The man frowned. "But you weren't around when I was summoned. Explain that."

"Stop joking around!" Rin was starting to get angry. "Don't tell me you can only identify your Master when you see them!"

The Servant noticed her Command Seals and smirked. "Ah, it seems you really are my Master. So now the question is, are you worthy of it?"

"Eh?" A tick mark appeared on Rin's forehead. "That should not matter. And now answer me: you are my Servant, right?"

"That seems to be the case." The man nodded. "But just having those Seals doesn't solve the issue. What I really want to know is if you deserve my loyalty."

Rin was speechless.

"Well, I guess I'll accept it for now." The Servant sighed. "But I do have some conditions. I will ignore your opinions, fight how I see fit, and you'll follow my plans. Are we clear, young lady?"

In the end, Rin ended up wasting a Command Seal to get him to respect her.

"So..." She started again once things calmed down. "Which Servant are you?"

"Ah, you can't tell just by looking at me?" He sounded delighted. "Excellent."

"All right, I'm asking this as your master." Rin was getting annoyed again. "You're not Saber, right?"

The man looked amused. "No. As you can see, I don't have a sword."

"I see. What a failure..." Rin sighed. "All those wasted gems and I didn't even get Saber."

"Hmph." The man grunted. "I'm sorry I'm not Saber, then. But I understand that Archer is not a very flashy class."

"So you're an Archer... could be worse, I guess." Rin told him. "So which hero are you?"

Archer suddenly looked uncomfortable. "I can't answer that, because... well, because I don't know that myself."

"Are you making fun of me?'

"I don't mean to insult you." Archer observed. "But due to the failed summoning, it seems my memory is jumbled up. I know who I am, but things like name and origin are missing... well, they're trivial, so let's not worry about them."

"What do you mean? Of course I'm worried!" Rin yelled. "If I don't know your identity, I can't tell how strong you are!"

"What are you talking about?" Archer smirked. "I am the Servant you summoned. It's natural that I am the strongest."

"All right. I won't ask about your identity. Now, here's your first task." Rin shoved a broom into his hand. "Go clean up the room downstairs. It's your mess, after all."

"Damn you, Master."

* * *

"Where is he?" Lucy raged, walking in circles around the entrance hall. "He should have been home hours ago! I told him time and again not to stay in school so long! It's night, the Masters and Servants will be active soon! And that fool has not even summoned Saber yet! I knew I should have pressed him more about doing that!"

"Master..." Caster interrupted Lucy's tirade. "Don't worry so much. Even without a Servant, Shirou-kun can hold an enemy off long enough to flee and come here. And you did put Avalon into him. He'll be fine."

* * *

"Who's there?"

As soon as he said it, Shirou turned and ran, cursing his thoughtlessness.

"Huh?" The blue-clad Lancer turned away from Archer and sped off after Shirou.

"A student?" Rin paled. "Someone was still here?"

Archer nodded and visibly relaxed. "Yeah. He saved our lives, though."

"I was preoccupied with Lancer, and he just sped off to kill whoever that was..." Rin muttered. "Archer, go after him! I'll catch up with you!"

Archer nodded and ran off towards the school building.

* * *

"No..." Rin had just sent Archer off to track Lancer and find out who his Master was, before steeling herself to see who she was too late to save. "This isn't funny. Why did it have to be you?"

The boy gave a rattling breath, proving that he was still only barely alive.

Rin hesitated, trying to make up her mind on what to do. She knew Sakura had gotten rather close to the boy during the two months he'd been here, and there were rumors of a sister who worked for the government or something like that. If she didn't help, Rin would at least have to tell the boy's family about what happened.

Sighing, she reached for a pendant around her neck.

* * *

"Shirou!" Lucy ran over when he entered, paling at the huge bloodstain on his shirt. "What happened to you?"

"No time..." The boy rasped. "Got seen in a fight between Servants... have to summon Saber now... Lancer might be coming after me..."

"Heh, you're right about that." The blue Servant appeared out of nowhere. "You all must be magi to know what he meant by saying 'Lancer'. I guess I have more witnesses to eliminate."

"Get to the shed, Shirou!" Lucy commanded, requipping a gun and calling for Caster to appear next to her. "The circle is there. Summon quickly!"

Shirou nodded and sped off. Lancer made to follow him to cut him off-

"Curse: Frigid Heaven!"

Lancer grit his teeth and jumped back, barely avoiding getting trapped in an ice block. He swung his lance at it, shattering the ice, then pointed it at Lucy and Caster. "You both prefer ranged fighting, I see... too bad, I'm not giving you the chance!"

* * *

"I ask of you, are you my Master?"

"I did it..." Shirou muttered, then came to his senses and quickly showed her his Command Seals. "Yes, I am. Now go help Nee-san, Lancer is fighting her!"

Saber's eyes widened before she nodded and sped off. Shirou followed her to the main building, where he saw her leap forward and reach Lancer in one jump, swinging her sword at him.

Lancer growled and tired to strike back, but Saber managed to deflect every blow. Shirou watched in awe as the man got pushed back with each strike.

"Nee-san!" He snapped out of his shock to see Lucy slumped against the wall with a hole in her stomach. Caster was over her, doing her best to attend to her while trying to hold back tears and bleeding from several deep cuts of her own.

"They did quite well." Lancer mused, avoiding Saber's unseen sword even as he spoke. "But neither a human nor a Caster-class Servant can hope to face a Lancer like me in close combat."

Saber scowled and swung with incredible force, pushing Lancer back several meters. Lancer used the chance to jump back and pointed his spear at the ground. Magic energy began to gather around it.

"My Master is a coward. He told me not to engage other Servants and to simply look around, so this is unfortunate." His face grew stern. "See ya. I'll take that heart of yours. Gae... Bolg!"

His attack, which was aimed at Saber's feet, strangely changed course and sped straight towards her heart. The force of the hit was enough to lift her off her feet, but she had somehow managed to avoid getting a fatal blow.

"You evaded it, Saber. My fatal Gae Bolg." Lancer sounded astonished. "Well, I screwed up. If I'm going to use this move, it needs to be fatal. Tch, and I guess you'll figure out who I am too... you are in luck, Saber. My master says that since you have evaded my lance, I should retreat for now."

Saber collected herself. "Are you running away, Lancer?"

"Yeah." He sighed. "Come after me if you wish, but be prepared to die if you do."

Saber watched him go, before turning to Shirou. "Master, am I to understand that the Master and Servant inside the house are our allies?"

"Yeah." Shirou nodded. "And none of that Master stuff. Call me Shirou."

"Very well... Shirou." Saber smiled, before stiffening. "Are you aware there is another Servant approaching this place?"

"An enemy... outside?" Shirou muttered, then paled when Saber prepared to jump over the wall. "Wait, Saber! Are you going to fight in this state?"

"My wound has healed enough." Saber responded curtly, before leaping over the wall. Shirou sped off through the gate, only to see her standing over an already defeated Archer. Just before she gave the final blow, the other Servant disappeared.

Without hesitation, Saber sped over to the master and struck out, cutting off Rin's spell in mid-word. The girl staggered and fell backwards, finding Saber's sword pointed at her neck and almost cutting into her throat.

"Hold it." Lucy stumbled over, clutching her wound as Caster helped her walk. "You, Tohsaka. Was that man in red your Servant?"

"Of course!" Rin yelled indignantly. "Blondie here would have killed him if I hadn't told him to go into his spirit form!"

"I see." Lucy nodded. "In that case... farewell, Master of Archer."

"Wai-" Rin managed to exclaim before Saber took her cue and stabbed her neck.

"Oh my..." Archer rematerialized, watching the girl bleed out. "And I had such high hopes for my Master too... I guess I'm out of the War already."

"You..." Lucy's eyes widened and she hobbled over, examining Archer carefully before scowling. "Shirou Kariya Emiya... I told you not to overuse your magecraft!"

"Huh? But I didn't..." Shirou glanced at Archer and his eyes widened. "What the... you're me?"

"I've been found out so soon..." Archer gave a wry smile. "But you have me at a disadvantage, miss. You see, I have no idea who you are."

"A different reality..." Lucy wondered. "That makes sense and answers a few things... to put it shortly, I'm Shirou's older half-sister. We were both raised by Kiritsugu Emiya."

"As interesting as that story must be..." Archer sighed. "Without a Master, I will only last two days tops. I'd rather spend that time doing something meaningful."

"Her Command Seals are still there..." Lucy knelt down and sliced Rin's hand off with a quick movement. "I might have an idea. Archer, what would you say to a new Master?"

"Wait..." Shirou's eyes widened. "You don't mean..."

"I do." Lucy nodded seriously. "I might have just found a use for Bazett."

Shirou watched as Caster supported Lucy and the two led Archer inside, then he turned to Rin's body. Removing a faded pendant from his pocket, he compared it to an identical one around her neck and sighed, shaking his head sorrowfully.

"It seems you're the one who healed me at the school." He observed, looking disgusted with himself. "I'm sorry. I should have stopped Nee-san and Saber."

With one last long look at the dead Tohsaka, Shirou turned and re-entered the Emiya residence.

* * *

After a careful and delicate medical procedure, Bazett was examining her new hand, which was thinner than her old one and had two Command Seals on it.

"You say you were summoned earlier today, Archer?" She glanced at the Servant curiously. "And Tohsaka managed to use a Command Seal already? What did she have you do?"

Archer looked annoyed. "She demanded respect."

Bazett snorted. "What a waste. Foolish girl."

"That's right, I totally forgot!" Lucy realized. "Caster, go dispose of Tohsaka's corpse. It'll be dawn soon, I don't want some jogger to see it."

Caster nodded and went off to incinerate the body.

"So what's the plan now?" Bazett looked curious. "You said you don't trust me to help you just yet, but you just handed me a second chance to fight in the War. Am I to call myself your ally then?"

"Yes." Lucy nodded. "In his journal, Kiritsugu detailed everything until the last fight of the Fourth War, then it just says that the War ended. I want to know what was so terrible and dangerous about the Grail that he didn't want a written record of it. To that end, Bazett, should my, Shirou's and your Servant be the last ones remaining, I want you to order Archer to kill himself."

"So our alliance will hold until we're the only three left, huh?" Archer materialized, looking resigned. "I was very easily defeated earlier. I guess I should count myself lucky I still get to do something, even if you've already planned my doom out."

* * *

"Ah, Caster-san."

Caster blinked, surprised to see Ultear there. "Ara? Why are you out here, Ultear-chan?"

"I was getting rid of the girl's body." Ultear motioned to a pile of dust. "While my magic doesn't usually work on humans or animals, it's different if they're dead."

"Dust to dust indeed." Caster shook her head. "So are you done? We should probably listen to Master's plan for the War. Plus I don't trust Bazett-san yet."

* * *

"Ok." Lucy looked around the crowded table. "Is everyone here? Good. Now then, here's what we're going to do..."

* * *

NOTE 1: Tamamo will use the same spells she uses in the Fate/Extra game, but their effects will be slightly different:

Curse: Fiery Heaven – a pure destructive spell, which blasts a target with a burst of fire.

Curse: Frigid Heaven – a confining spell which grants the target a slow death trapped in an icy prison.

Curse: Chaos Heaven – a weakening spell which saps physical energy and drains the target's magic power.

Mantra: Merciful Sky – greatly boosts Caster's offensive magic power for a short period of time.

Mantra: Aphotic Cave – drains an incoming magic attack of magic energy, which is then restored as Caster's own power.

Land of Eternal Bane – spreads a cloud of poison over an area. The poison is meant to paralyze, although it can be made lethal if Caster wishes it to.

Breath of the Soul – a passive effect. Creates an aura around Caster that doubles the regeneration rate of magic power for anyone in range. Caster is always affected.

Charm: Spirit Theft – steals half of a person's magic energy and adds it to Caster's vast reserves.

Eightfold Blessing of Amaterasu (Noble Phantasm) – locks the enemy's magic power, making them unable to use any magic. In addition, it slows down the target's movement, thought processes, and body functions, essentially making them a sitting duck for Caster's attacks. Its' range is large enough to affect 100 people.

And no, I did not overpower Caster's Noble Phantasm. Considering Saber's NP, which took SEVEN of Berserker's lives at once, this is weak. It basically just ensures 100% accuracy with no chance to guard.

There are two other tricks she will use, but those will be revealed in due time.

NOTE 2: Here's a list of Lucy's magic:

Innate Time Control (from Kiritsugu's crest remains).

Requip Magic.

Ethernano Displacement Magic (works against magical attacks which use non-solid substances or pure magic power).

Color Magic (imbued into her ring, can change hair, eye, and skin color as well as clothes).

Mystic Eyes of Death Perception (hers turn blue when active, like Shiki Ryougi's).

Chapter 7 will be out soon. Thanks for reading.

Till next time!


	7. The Seventh Servant

And here we go, for the 100th time... ok, for the fifth time. It's a new story, this time a cross-over between Fairy Tail and the TYPE-MOON universe (elements of Fate/Zero and Tsukihime). Just like TSCM, this story features a strong Lucy, but apart from that it's completely different.

NOTE: For the purposes of this story, the time line has been adjusted. The events of Tsukihime happened several years before the Fourth Holy Grail War, not during the Fifth War. Also, Ultear will be younger than in canon, while Lucy will be older.

In this story, Lucy's behavior is a mixture of Kiritsugu Emiya's and Shiki Ryougi's. Also, Maiya Emiya and Irisviel Emiya are Lucy's aliases. Very few people even know her real name, and all of them use one of her fake names.

**Also, there's a special appearance by a character from Hidan no Aria. She'll only be around for this chapter and the next one.**

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any of Nasu Kinoko's works. Nor do I own Hidan no Aria or any of the characters.

* * *

"First of all..." Lucy focused her magic into her Color ring. The others watched as her skin paled, her eyes turned red, and her clothes turned into a thick white fur coat, complete with a matching winter hat. "There. What do you guys think?"

Saber gasped. "You look like..."

"I want all of you to refer to me as Irisviel when I look like this." Lucy waited until everyone nodded in understanding, then continued. "This is part of my plan to deal with the Einzbern Master. I don't know who they sent, but whoever it is, that person has Berserker as their Servant, and they're holed up in that large mansion in the forest outside the city. It should seriously mess with the Einzberns if they see their Grail vessel from the previous war walking around."

Saber looked mutinous. "I do not approve of such trickery. A battle should be honorable, and yet you won't even let the enemy see who they're really facing?"

"I have a mindset more suited for an Assassin Servant, so I do not care for a Saber's opinion." Lucy countered. "Be warned though, just because you don't approve doesn't mean you can sabotage the plan or reveal what I'm doing to the enemy."

Saber nodded sullenly. "Fine."

"Now then, we have three Masters and Servants on our side. Saber, Archer, and Caster." She glanced at all three in turn. "The Einzbern Master has Berserker, and Kotomine has Lancer and somehow Archer from the previous War. My guess is there's some hidden means of supplying prana hidden in the church."

Saber was getting an increasingly uncomfortable feeling. First an ally had chosen to resemble her former traitorous Master's wife, and now she found out one of her worst enemies was still around? What kind of War was this?

"Besides that, there's Rider and Assassin." Lucy continued. "I don't know if either of those has been summoned yet, but the Master of one of those will definitely come from the Matou family. They always participate, but we haven't met their Servant yet, so it has to be one of those two classes. Shirou, try to find out something from Sakura if you can."

"Sure thing." Shirou nodded. "I don't think it's Sakura, though. I didn't see Command Seals on her hand. That means it's either going to be her brother Shinji, or her grandfather, who I've only heard about in passing a few times. My money's on the unknown grandfather, since Shinji doesn't feel or act like a Magus."

"Ok, so we possibly know the identities of five Masters." Lucy observed. "Us three, Kotomine, and probably the Matou elder. That leaves two, the Einzbern and the last one, who's a complete blank here. Let me think... given the two remaining options, which one is the Matou elder more likely to summon?"

"It can go either way, Master." Caster chimed in, serious for once. "They can either seek to overwhelm the others, in which case they'll summon a Rider, since the class usually has powerful Noble Phantasms, or they might want to kill off Masters quickly and silently, in which case..."

"Assassin." Lucy sighed. "So we still know nothing about Rider, Assassin, and their Masters. Great."

"Alright then." She stood up. "I'm going to try and meet with the Einzbern Master. At the very least, my appearance will unsettle them long enough for me to flee if they appear hostile. Caster, I want you to assume your spirit form and accompany me."

"Hai, Master!"

"Bazett, you and Archer watch the house with Ultear." Lucy commanded. "Shirou, take Saber and scout the city. Maybe you'll find something out. Let's go, Caster."

* * *

Illyasviel von Einzbern looked up and frowned when she sensed her bounded fields shake.

"Something has breached the wards." She muttered, standing from her chair and heading towards the door. "It feels like a Magus. It doesn't look like there's a Servant with them, but there's no reason for a Magus who's not a Master to come here. Come, Berserker."

The huge figure grunted and followed her, shaking the floor with each stomp.

Before Illya could get to the front entrance and leave the mansion, the door was flung wide open and a solitary tall figure stepped in. Illya gasped when the woman looked around, before her wide eyes settled on Illya and she smiled, tearing up at the same time.

"Illyasviel, my dear child." The woman trembled, before falling to her knees and starting to sob. "I finally get to see you again!"

Illya stared at the woman in shock mixed with hope, before running over and examining her carefully. "Mummy?"

In response, Irisviel threw her arms around Illya and wailed louder. Berserker tensed, but when the woman made no further sudden moves, he lowered his sword.

_Success..._ Lucy fought off a smirk when she buried her face in Illya's shoulder and gave another wail. _This went much better than I hoped._

* * *

"So, Mummy, where were you all this time?" Illya demanded, still unsure whether or not she wasn't dreaming. "How come you left me all alone for all those years?"

"Illya, sweetie, I never wanted to do that." Irisviel lowered her gaze sadly. "You know how I was meant to be the vessel for the Grail in the Fourth War, right?"

Illya nodded. "Yeah..."

"Well, during that War, I started turning into the Grail after the fourth Servant died and was assimilated into it." Irisviel explained. "Once all seven were in it, I would have turned into the Grail completely. Except I never got the seventh one."

Illya gasped. "What?"

"Yes, the seventh Servant survived the War and is still around today." Irisviel told Illya. "Since I had six Servants in the Grail and was on the verge of turning, but never received the seventh one, I didn't turn into the Grail. However, I spent those years in a coma while my body fought against turning into the Grail anyway, since with six Servants inside it had most of the required power for that."

Illya smiled and looked Irisviel over. "And now..."

"My body has stabilized, yes." Irisviel confirmed. "At this moment, even if that seventh Servant dies, I won't turn into the Grail. It's more likely that that Servant will go into you, the new Grail vessel, instead."

Illya flinched at that. "But I don't want to be separated from you again, Mummy! Not now when you came back!"

Under her disguise, Lucy was altering her initial plan from 'confuse and distract Einzbern's Master, then kill him/her' to 'we might just have another Master/Servant pair of allies here'. "Illyasviel, honey, would you like to go with Mummy to where she lives now?"

Illya nodded happily. "Can Sella and Leysritt come too?"

"They are your maids, correct?" Irisviel glanced at the two women, who were listening in. "Sure. I don't see a problem with that."

* * *

"So where do you live, Mummy?"

Irisviel smiled, happily holding Illya's hand as Sella and Leysritt followed the pair. Only she knew that Caster was a few meters behind the group, watching everything carefully.

"Well..." She hesitated, suddenly looking nervous. "After I woke up and explained as much about my situation to the authorities as I could, they found me a place. It turns out Kiritsugu adopted a child after the War and gave the boy his name, so I decided to go live with him."

Illya stiffened. "But he stole Daddy away from me!"

"He didn't." Irisviel pulled Illya closer, reassuring her. "I thought that at first too, that Kiritsugu was trying to build a new family, but that boy, Shirou, clarified a few things for me. Let him explain himself before you do anything, ok, sweetie?"

Illya pouted sullenly. "Fine."

"We're here." Irisviel stopped at the Emiya residence. "Fair warning, Shirou summoned Saber in this War and an allied Master lives here with the Servant Archer. Again, do not attack anyone until Shirou tells you everything."

"Yeah, I got it."

Shirou looked up when they entered the dining room. He stared at Irisviel for a moment before he remembered it was really Lucy in disguise, glanced curiously at Sella and Leysritt, who looked back with just as much interest, then his eyes landed on Illya and his jaw dropped.

"Sister..." He managed to choke out. "Are you really Illya-nee?"

"Heh, I like that." Illya observed, before catching herself and sending Shirou a wary glare. "But that doesn't mean anything! I still don't like you!"

"I thought that would be the case." Shirou gave a heavy sigh. "So I prepared for it. Here, Illya. This is Kiritsugu's journal, detailing pretty much everything he did until he died. You'll understand a lot about what happened after the Fourth War if you read it."

* * *

"You lied to me!"

Illya burst out of the room she was reading in, swinging Kiritsugu's journal around as she glared at Lucy/Irisviel.

"Who are you, really?" She demanded. "I know you're not Mummy! This journal says that she died!"

Her eyes widened when Lucy dispelled her disguise. "You're that girl he took in, aren't you... Berserker!"

The huge figure appeared next to her and made to move towards Lucy, only to find himself facing a shrine maiden with fox features, a young swordswoman, and a tall tanned man holding a pair of black and white falchions. Similarly, Illya found herself facing a gun, two swords, a gloved fist, and a crystal orb.

"You two." Lucy pointed the gun in her other hand at Sella and Leysritt, who were trying to move in and help Illya. "Sit and don't move."

The pair quickly complied.

"You have two choices, Illyasviel." Lucy warned the homunculus. "Either agree to co-operate with us during this War, or we kill you right here."

"Please try to get along with us." Shirou added, pleading. "I don't want to watch you die, Illya-nee."

"And yet you're pointing swords in my face." Illya observed wryly, before giving a heavy sigh. "It's alright, Berserker. Stand down."

The giant glared around at all the assembled fighters warily, but put his sword down and stepped back.

"Good." Lucy put away her guns. "And fair warning, Illyasviel. The bounded fields around this place will wake everyone up if there's even the smallest sign of ill intent given towards a resident at night. So don't bother to plan an ambush or sneak attack, it won't work."

Illya just glared at Lucy.

* * *

To her credit, Sakura just took Illya's and the two maids' presence in stride when she dropped by that evening. The Matou girl seemed distracted by something, and judging by the glances she kept sending Shirou's hand with Command Seals when she thought no one was watching her, the residents had a pretty good idea of what was going on.

"I'm going to walk Sakura home." Shirou told the others after dinner. "It's getting dark, and this city has been getting dangerous at night lately, so I'd rather not let her walk alone."

Sakura looked hesitant. "I'm sorry... I appreciate your concern, but you should stay here. I'm used to going home by myself, so I should be fine."

"I think you should take Shirou up on his offer." Lucy cut in suddenly. "Who knows what you can run into out there nowadays."

"But..." Sakura glanced away. "If Nii-san sees you, you'll get in trouble too."

"It's fine." Shirou shrugged. "I'm confident in my skills, so I can protect you if something happens."

Lucy watched as Shirou ushered the girl towards the front door. "Caster, Archer. Follow them, but stay in spirit form. Only intervene if they run into a Master or Servant, Shirou can handle a normal thug or mugger."

"Got it."

"Hai, Master!"

* * *

"Nothing happened."

Lucy narrowed her eyes at that. "Are you quite sure?"

"Yeah..." Shirou nodded. "Sakura had a small panic attack about a foreign-looking stranger with blond hair who apparently has been hanging around her house for a while, then there were a few bugs around the Matou mansion which shouldn't be there this time of year, and I had this strange feeling of fear when I noticed a third room in that house being used, but nothing dangerous happened."

"A misplaced bug and a bad feeling around the Matou mansion..." Lucy frowned in thought. "Kiritsugu's journal says that Kariya Matou used bugs to fight. Could the Matou elder use similar magecraft?"

She waved that off. "Anyway, I'm more worried about why someone who sounds like Gilgamesh is hanging around there."

"Are you sure it was him?" Bazett sounded doubtful. "All we know is that the stalker has blond hair. That's a big assumption to make."

"A foreigner suddenly shows up around the house of an unidentified Master in the War, sharing physical characteristics with the previous War's Archer, and paying close attention to the confirmed magus in the Matou family. On top of that, according to what Shirou said earlier, Sakura knows that guy didn't move in recently, so he must have been around for quite some time, and yet he starts showing himself right when the War is beginning?" Lucy shook her head. "I'm sorry, but I won't feel safe if I write all of that off as one big coincidence."

The next day, Lucy watched carefully as Shirou and Sakura left for school together. "I don't like this... the Matou girl knows that Shirou is a Master, and yet she shows no signs of ill will, ever. No one is that good an actor."

"You had me believing you were my mother." Illya groused. "So I disagree."

Lucy scoffed. "What would you know, little girl? You didn't bother checking at all to see if I really was Irisviel, or if I was alone, or unarmed, or possessed, or reanimated, or-"

"Shut up, you old hag!"

"Small brat!"

"At least my hair didn't go all gray like yours did!"

"It's white, exactly the same as yours! Dumbass loli!"

"My, you two are getting along." Ultear teased them. "You're really acting like sisters, you know."

The two girls gave identical snorts and turned away from each other, scowling... then both burst into laughter.

Sella and Leysritt watched the scene in confusion and slight relief.

"It's been a while since I heard Illya laugh like that."

"You're not showing proper decorum, Leysritt. The proper form of address is 'Illyasviel-sama'."

Leysritt waved Sella off and yawned, before slouching on the sofa. "Yeah, yeah."

"Don't ignore me!"

"Phew..." Illya sat up and took a deep breath, calming down. "You're all right, Nee-san."

"Congratulations, Illya-tan!" Caster cheered, appearing out of nowhere. "You got Master to laugh so easily! Do you know how long I've been trying to do that? The best I've ever gotten were small quick smiles!"

Lucy sighed. "Caster..."

The fox girl knelt in front of Illya. "Please teach me, Illya-sensei-tan!"

Illya burst into laughter again.

* * *

"Sempai..." Sakura looked out of the class window, looking unsure of herself. "I haven't seen Tohsaka-sempai in school for a few days now... I'm getting worried."

Shirou hesitated, wondering how exactly to tell Sakura that it was his sister and Servant who were the cause of Rin's death. "Um..."

"I know you realized that I'm aware of the Grail War being held in this city." Sakura began, shocking him. "I know you're a Master, Sempai, and I also know Tohsaka-sempai was one. If you know, then tell me. Does the Grail War have something to do with her disappearance?"

"I..." Shirou began to sweat from nervousness. "I..."

"Is she dead, Sempai?" Sakura demanded bluntly. "Is Nee-san dead?"

Shirou blinked, this was news to him. "Nee-san?"

"I was a Tohsaka before Tokiomi let Jii-san adopt me to stop the Matou family from losing all magic ability." Sakura explained briefly, her expression turning stern. "Now answer me, Sempai. Who killed Nee-san?"

"I..." Shirou gave a heavy sigh. "I cannot tell you that, Sakura. That person is now my ally in the Grail War."

"You said 'now'." Sakura observed, catching the purposeful misdirection in Shirou's words. "Saber-san is your Servant, so it can't have been you. Sempai is too kind to do something like that."

Shirou felt like a heel.

"I know Lucy-san's Servant Caster is also very cheerful and friendly, so I doubt it was her." Sakura continued. "And since you said 'now', which implies it's a recent development, it's most likely either Bazett-san or Illya-chan."

"I understand if you can't tell me, Sempai." Sakura gave him a small smile, which quickly faded. "But I will be watching those two very carefully from now on."

* * *

"Bazett..." Lucy ground out, her eye twitching. "Who the _hell _is this?"

"Aw, such hostility." The blond stranger giggled. "Don't you trust me?"

"Not on your life." Lucy snorted. "Now who are you and who let you in here?"

"You're no fun." The unknown girl pouted. "I'm Riko."

"That told me nothing."

"As you might know, the Clock Tower doesn't have much insight in what's going on in Japan." Bazett explained. "After Kiritsugu, we decided to try and fix that. Riko here is one of the results, being an informant about many people and events in the country, both magical and normal."

"I still don't understand why she's here."

"She's also a master thief and infiltrator." Bazett got to the point. "Can you think of no reason someone like that could be useful?"

"I see..." Lucy's eyes lit up. "Yes, I can think of an important job for you... Riko, was it?"

"Yep!" Riko chirped. "Just tell me what it is and I'll do it... for an appropriate amount, of course."

"Money is not a problem."

"Excellent! Just what I like to hear!" Riko clapped her hands excitedly. "So what do you want me to do?"

"Tell me..." Lucy leaned in. "How much do you know about the Holy Grail War?"

* * *

Shirou frowned, deciding to take a detour from his usual way home. "I wonder if Sakura's ok... she seemed shaken when she confirmed Rin's death. I'll try going by her house..."

Approaching the Matou mansion, Shirou frowned. "Nothing wrong here. No sign of possible Gilgamesh, lights are on in Sakura and Shinji's room as usual... wait, what? Then what was that light in the third room? Where's the Matou elder?"

"Excuse me. Do you need something?"

Shirou spun around to face an old bald man leaning on a cane, who was observing him suspiciously.

"What is wrong? Why do you not answer?" The man frowned. "If you remain silent, I shall jump to conclusions. Should I assume you're the stranger Sakura was worried about?"

Shirou's eyes widened. "Wait, could you be-"

"Hmm..." The man didn't hear him. "Since it is her wish, I can't let you go. Just to be sure, you don't intend to hand yourself over to the police without struggling?"

"Ah, no, you've got it all wrong!" Shirou panicked. "My name is Shirou Emiya. I'm Shinji's classmate, and Sakura is a friend of mine. I just came to see how they were doing."

"I see, you're their friend." The man nodded to himself. "Then I'm sorry for startling you. Do you want me to get them? Or perhaps you'd like to come in and have dinner with us?"

"No, I was just stopping by." Shirou told him. "By the way, is Sakura home already?"

There was a short pause.

"Zouken."

Shirou blinked. "Huh?"

"Zouken Matou." The man said. "It is impolite of me not to introduce myself when you have done so."

With that, he turned and headed towards the Matou mansion's entrance, seemingly not caring about Shirou anymore. The boy sighed and made to leave.

"Sakura is home." Zouken grunted, stopping him. "More importantly, Shirou Emiya, how is the daughter of the Einzberns?"

That caught Shirou off-guard. "Einzberns?"

"I see, you do know." The man's eyes widened and he chuckled in amusement. "Anyway, if you want to see my grandchildren, do not hesitate. This old man will go away, so please do not reserve yourself."

"Um, it's ok, I just came by for a moment." Shirou glanced between Zouken and the house. "Um, do you live here?"

"I do." Zouken nodded. "But I am quite old, after all. So I just lie in the spare tatami room most of the time."

"I see..."

"Then excuse me, Shirou Emiya." Zouken turned away again. "Please stay friends with my grandchildren."

* * *

"It seems six have gathered."

The figure accompanying the speaker whimpered when a worm slid down the basement wall.

"Not enough." The first figure grunted, nudging the fallen worm with his foot. "Those will have to be replaced soon."

"There are still more chances to come." The speaker continued as worms crawled over his feet. "It does not mean this is the last chance I have. If the conditions aren't perfect, I should limit myself to just watching, but..."

He thought about where each of the six summoned Servants was. "Unfortunately, the pieces I have are well-suited for this."

He leaned down and placed a lock of blond hair on the floor, then stepped back.

"And now for the final piece..." He stretched out his hand and began chanting. A circle lit up around his feet, and once he finished the aria, a large gust of smoke signaled a third presence in the dungeon.

"You who have summoned me." A lifeless female voice intoned as the smoke cleared. "I ask of you, are you my Master?"

"Indeed I am." The man nodded as the Servant showed herself. "But you are not the White Princess. You aren't even a True Ancestor. Who are you, Servant?"

"I am the Servant Assassin, Master." The woman swept strands of grayish white hair from her face, before bowing to him. "In life, I was known as both Lucy Heartfilia and Maiya Emiya."

"Another Emiya." The man chuckled in amusement. "And your stats are very high for an Assassin Servant. But tell me, how is it that DNA of a True Ancestor summoned a human?"

"While my DNA may not be a True Ancestor's, I am the daughter of the White Princess Arcueid Brunestud. In addition, I have inherited the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception from my father, Shiki Tohno."

The man's eyes widened, before he began to laugh. "Yes, a magnificent pawn indeed!"

The third figure, which until now had witnessed everything in silence, spoke up. "Do I have to kill every other Master?"

"A stupid question." The man observed. "I shall not limit myself to observation this time. Also, out of all the Masters, the Emiya siblings are the biggest threat. If there is a likely winner, it will most probably be the sister."

"Ah." Assassin looked amused. "You have already heard of my past self."

"Indeed I have." The man began to give off a maniacal cackle. "Indeed I have, Maiya Emiya!"

The Servant and the shadowy third presence watched him in silence.

* * *

AN: The irony of Lucy and Illya's mock argument is that Illya was right and Lucy's hair is, in fact, kind of gray. The pearly white color it has is an illusion from the Color ring.

NOTE 1: Tamamo will use the same spells she uses in the Fate/Extra game, but their effects will be slightly different:

Curse: Fiery Heaven – a pure destructive spell, which blasts a target with a burst of fire.

Curse: Frigid Heaven – a confining spell which grants the target a slow death trapped in an icy prison.

Curse: Chaos Heaven – a weakening spell which saps physical energy and drains the target's magic power.

Mantra: Merciful Sky – greatly boosts Caster's offensive magic power for a short period of time.

Mantra: Aphotic Cave – drains an incoming magic attack of magic energy, which is then restored as Caster's own power.

Land of Eternal Bane – spreads a cloud of poison over an area. The poison is meant to paralyze, although it can be made lethal if Caster wishes it to.

Breath of the Soul – a passive effect. Creates an aura around Caster that doubles the regeneration rate of magic power for any ally in range. Caster is always affected.

Charm: Spirit Theft – steals half of a person's magic energy and adds it to Caster's vast reserves.

Eightfold Blessing of Amaterasu (Noble Phantasm) – locks the enemy's magic power, making them unable to use any magic. In addition, it slows down the target's movement, thought processes, and body functions, essentially making them a sitting duck for Caster's attacks. Its' range is large enough to affect 100 people.

And no, I did not overpower Caster's Noble Phantasm. Considering Saber's NP, which took SEVEN of Berserker's lives at once, this is weak. It basically just ensures 100% accuracy with no chance to guard.

There are two other tricks she will use, but those will be revealed in due time.

NOTE 2: Here's a list of Lucy's magic:

Innate Time Control (from Kiritsugu's crest remains).

Requip Magic.

Ethernano Displacement Magic (works against magical attacks which use non-solid substances or pure magic power).

Color Magic (imbued into her ring. Can change hair, eye, and skin color as well as clothes).

Mystic Eyes of Death Perception (hers turn blue when active, like Shiki Ryougi's).

Chapter 8 will be out soon. Thanks for reading.

Till next time!


	8. The Servant From The Fourth War

And here we go, for the 100th time... ok, for the fifth time. It's a new story, this time a cross-over between Fairy Tail and the TYPE-MOON universe (elements of Fate/Zero and Tsukihime). Just like TSCM, this story features a strong Lucy, but apart from that it's completely different.

NOTE: For the purposes of this story, the time line has been adjusted. The events of Tsukihime happened several years before the Fourth Holy Grail War, not during the Fifth War. Also, Ultear will be younger than in canon, while Lucy will be older.

In this story, Lucy's behavior is a mixture of Kiritsugu Emiya's and Shiki Ryougi's. Also, Maiya Emiya and Irisviel Emiya are Lucy's aliases. Very few people even know her real name, and all of them use one of her fake names.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any of Nasu Kinoko's works. Nor do I own Hidan no Aria or any of the characters.

* * *

"I met Zouken Matou last night."

Lucy blinked. "Zouken?"

"Sakura's grandfather." Shirou clarified. "And you were right, Nee-san. I could hear bugs the entire time I was talking to him, and they stopped when he left, so he's most likely the Matou Master in this War."

"Wait, Zouken?" Bazett cut in, an ugly look on her face. "The Enforcers have a file on him. That man uses some perverse magecraft to extend his life, and he's definitely been around for two centuries at least, but he is no longer human at this point."

"Over two hundred years..." Lucy's eyes widened. "Do you think it's possible he witnessed the origin of the Holy Grail Wars?"

"The first one was..." Shirou did the math quickly. "190 years ago, so yeah, it's very likely."

Riko chose that moment to enter the room, followed by Archer, who had accompanied her on her job in spirit form. "Hey everyone, I did it!" She cheered, before her exuberant mood faded and she slumped down by the table. "I need a drink."

Caster wordlessly handed her a sake bottle, from which Riko took a large swig, not even bothering with a glass.

"That bad, huh?"

"Yeah..." Riko gulped down the alcohol. "When you asked me to find and destroy the prana supply for that errant Servant Kotomine has, I didn't expect it to be survivors from the Fuyuki Fire."

Shirou paled. "What?"

"Yeah..." Riko shook her bottle. "About two dozen of them. Barely alive misshapen husks which looked more like melted-down blobs of flesh than actual people. Kotomine must have somehow kept them alive via magecraft, not giving them any food or other such things, and draining their meager prana reserves repeatedly over the ten years that Servant has been around."

"You killed them all, right?" Lucy demanded.

"I'm a thief, not a killer." Riko sent Lucy a glare. "So Archer did it. And frankly, all those times you hear the phrase 'put them out of their misery'... I don't think it fits any situation any more than it did this one. Those... I can't even call them people anymore, there was no resemblance whatsoever to humans... those things couldn't move or speak, they just _existed_. One or two of the most aware ones, I repeat, the most aware ones, could _blink_. That was it. That was all the signs of life in there. Apart from, you know, them lying there."

Ultear shivered. "Are things like that normal for a Grail War?"

"Nothing about this Grail War is normal." Bazett grunted, taking a drink of her own. "But in the last War, the summoned Caster was an insane cultist and he got summoned by a psychopath who liked torturing children, and neither of them cared about the Grail. It ended up with most of the other Master/Servant pairs fighting them. So yes, atrocities are an expected part of a War."

Ultear slumped back in her seat and snatched the sake bottle away from Riko. "Great."

* * *

"So, we're going to look around this area first. We can focus on the suburbs and the other side of the river later, but for now let's check if everything here is ok."

Shirou nodded as he, Saber, and Caster followed Lucy into the city.

"We'll go to the intersection, and then check out the other part of this side of the city." Lucy outlined. "Then, if everything's calm, we'll go up until we reach Ryudou Temple, and then we'll go-"

A loud shriek cut her off.

"Master, that was-"

"It stopped." Saber observed, surveying the surroundings warily. "The presence I sensed is fading away. I do not know what happened, but the victim won't live long."

Shirou paled and sped off towards the scream's source, the others following him. They ran until they reached a small park, where Shirou stopped in horror so abruptly, the others almost crashed into him.

Saber and Lucy understood the situation first. "This is..."

A tall woman in black and purple clothes was bent over a fallen girl, her mouth clamped on the unconscious victim's neck. All four of them could see that the unknown attacker was draining the girl of life force, as the victim's skin was graying and she seemed to become increasingly doll-like.

"Oh, wow, it's Emiya." A smug voice observed. "And that woman with white hair is probably your reclusive sister that the rumors were about. It's amazing that your luck is this bad."

"Shirou." Lucy eyed the unknown boy in distaste. "Who is that and why does he know you?"

"He's a classmate of mine." Shirou explained. "Shinji Matou."

Lucy's eyes widened in surprise. "I though you said he was the least likely Matou to be the Master in that family!"

"Ho, so you have knowledge of the War." Shinji observed. "Could it be that you're also a Master? That would probably make the shrine maiden there your Servant then, wouldn't it?"

"No matter." He made a gesture with the book he was holding. "You people came here because you sensed a Servant, right? Then do what you came to do. Emiya, I staged this scenario so that even an idiot like you could-"

A bullet crashed into his chest and he collapsed, his face frozen in the smug grin he had on. The female Servant glanced at his fallen body with disdain, before picking up the book he had and somehow causing it to ignite.

"You might have done me a favor there." The Servant spoke. "But the fact remains that you're enemy Servants and Masters."

"He isn't going to die." Lucy snorted. "Not if he gets some medical attention in ten minutes or so."

"I see..." The enemy Servant gave a small smile. "Then I suppose I should make this quick."

And she surged forward.

"Stand back, Shirou!" Saber commanded, swinging her invisible sword to stop the woman's charge. The other Servant, however, veered off course and ran back in an arc, dodging a hail of bullets Lucy had unleashed.

"Finish them... Rider..." Shinji managed to rasp even as he lost more blood. "We followed grandfather's orders... we can kill... both their Servants..."

Rider sped up and dashed past Lucy's shots, preparing to cut Saber's neck... and Saber's powerful two-handed swing crashed into the woman, almost cutting her in half as it sent her flying back.

Shinji's eyes widened as he struggled to stand up. "What... are you doing? I'm... your Master! You can't... lose to Emiya's Servant..."

"Get up... and fight! Wounds shouldn't matter... to someone like you! You're... embarrassing me. You're... making me look... like the weaker one here..."

"I think _I_ made you look like the weaker one here." Lucy interjected, disgusted by his behavior.

"Shut up, bitch!" Shinji snarled.

"I have to agree with Lucy." Saber nodded. "Blame yourself before you blame Rider. No matter how great a Heroic Spirit is, it cannot fight to its full potential if it does not have an appropriate Master."

"Besides, you're not my Master anymore." Rider spoke clearly, despite her wound. "I burned your Book of False Attendant earlier, remember?"

Saber shook her head and moved in to finish Shinji and Rider off.

"Enough." A voice grunted, stopping all of them. "It seems I was mistaken to place any hope on you, Shinji."

At that precise moment, the last of Shinji's book turned to ash and Rider disappeared.

"I did not expect much of you, but this is worse than I thought." Zouken observed, coming into view. "I gave you a chance since you are my grandson, but I now have no choice but to forsake you."

"Grandfather..."

Zouken scowled and pushed his cane into Shinji's bullet wound, deepening it. The boy screamed in pain.

"Your useless father left behind an even more pathetic son." Zouken grunted. "You spoiled not only the family blood, but your spirit as well. The Matou bloodline ends with your generation. I have no further use for you."

And with that, he pushed until his cane stabbed Shinji straight through. Glancing at the dying boy with disgust, he began moving towards Saber.

"I see... no wonder Rider was defeated." He smirked. "I presume you are a famed Heroic Spirit. In fact, I do not believe one as great as you has ever been summoned before."

He sighed. "Well, it seems my life will end here. I know none of you think I'm human, so there is little chance of you letting me leave without incident. It looks like the Matou's involvement in the War ends here."

Saber lowered her sword. "If what you say is true and your family has no further role in the War, then there is no need for further fighting."

Lucy nodded. "But should you have lied, there will not be a next time. If you show any kind of ill intent towards any of us, we'll kill you without hesitation."

"Understood." Zouken chuckled, before disappearing.

Shirou stared at the spot where he vanished for a moment, before remembering the almost dead woman Rider had attacked. "Can we take her to the Church? Kotomine is supposed to look after uninvolved victims, after all."

Caster nodded and picked the woman up. "Sure, let's go."

Shirou hesitated, glancing at Shinji. "And-"

"Don't bother." Lucy shook her head. "He's already dead."

* * *

"I am curious, Master." The disembodied female voice, contrary to what it said, was as flat and lifeless as ever. "Why did you gamble your life back there, instead of having me distract them? Better yet, why show yourself at all?"

"I wanted to take a closer look at the two Servants. I now know they're a Saber and Caster." Zouken explained. "And by suggesting that they could easily kill me and not revealing your presence to them, I reinforced their mistaken belief that Shinji was the only Master in our family. More importantly, how do you feel after seeing your past self?"

"That is not my past self." Assassin observed. "That is a different version of past me. In my time-line, neither I nor Kiritsugu had ever met Shirou. Instead, Shirou died in the fire. Kiritsugu still took me in after father and Mother Arcueid went after Roa, but the Einzberns quickly tracked us down. They killed Kiritsugu and basically forced me to be a servant/slave to Illyasviel. I spent the rest of my life working for them, alternating between being a personal maid for Illyasviel and their attack dog, unleashed to kill any and all enemies they had. After a few years, given my skills, there was no killer better than me."

"So the Einzberns' enslaved killer became well-known enough to become a Servant." Zouken sounded amused. "So do you have any specific goals for this War, or will you just aim to win the Grail like the other Servants?"

"Actually, now that you bring it up, Master..." Assassin hesitated for a moment. "There is one thing I always wanted to do when I was alive that I now have the chance to do even without the Grail."

"Oh?" Zouken raised an eyebrow. "And what's that?"

"Killing Illyasviel."

* * *

"Was it safe?"

"Yeah, I just handed him the woman and left. He said he'll heal her and watch over her until she recovers."

Lucy nodded. "And he doesn't suspect that it was us who cut off Gilgamesh's prana supply?"

"If he does, he didn't show it." Shirou observed. "Where's Riko?"

"She left already. Lucy-san paid her and she went home." Sella informed him, taking his coat and putting it away. Both she and Leysritt had quickly gotten used to living at the Emiya residence, but while Leysritt was basically laying around and not doing anything, Sella still sought to act like a proper maid.

"It's getting late." She continued, glancing at a nearby clock. "Shirou-san, I believe you have school tomorrow. You should go to sleep soon."

Shirou nodded, conceding the point, and headed off to his room. Saber followed him wordlessly.

Leysritt glanced at them from the living room sofa on which she was sprawled out, flipping through TV channels. "Tomorrow will be an interesting morning."

True to her word, the next day started with a masculine yet very high-pitched scream.

* * *

Saber glared at Shirou, annoyed.

Lucy, Bazett, and Sella exchanged confused looks.

Illya, Leysritt, Ultear, and Caster were stifling giggles. Archer was stifling chuckles. Because Archer does NOT giggle.

Berserker, as always, ignored the proceedings entirely. Since there was no fighting, he wasn't interested.

Sakura was in the kitchen, preparing food, so she didn't notice the strange atmosphere around the table.

"Sempai..." She called out, startling most of the table's occupants. "What should I start with?"

Shirou shot up and dashed into the kitchen, escaping Saber's stare. Caster couldn't keep silent anymore and burst out laughing.

"Ok." Bazett looked around. "What did I miss?"

"It seems Saber slept over in Shirou's room." Ultear explained, smirking. "Apparently he did not expect that."

Lucy's eye twitched. "Any by slept you mean..."

"Exactly that." Illya responded cheerfully. "Onii-chan was shocked to wake up and find her there. That's what that scream earlier was."

"You do know you're older than Shirou, right?"

In the kitchen, Sakura examined the bowl Shirou had handed her. "This is... German potato salad? That's an unusual choice, Sempai."

"It smells good..." She stared down into the dish. "Can I try some?"

Shirou shrugged. "Sure, go ahead."

"It's sweet..." Sakura mulled the taste over. "I think... is that onion in there?"

She gave a wide smile. "Wow, this is really good, Sempai! I like this taste!"

"They're rather close." Bazett observed, watching the scene in the kitchen unfold. "I thought you didn't trust the Matou, Lucy."

"Shinji was their Master, and he's dead." Lucy countered. "Rider fled, but without her Master she'll quickly disappear. So I don't really see a reason to interfere with those two..." She gestured towards the kitchen. "Because while Sakura might know about the Holy Grail War, she doesn't have anything to do with it."

Bazett nodded, seeming unconvinced but letting the matter drop.

Apart from a minor incident when Sakura decided to try opening the door with her face and got a small nosebleed from it, the rest of the morning passed calmly. Saber had been annoyed with Shirou's decision to go to school without any protection... until Lucy had Caster follow him while invisible. That satisfied her.

* * *

"Hmmm..." Having finished school, Shirou stood in front of a supermarket. "What should we have for dinner tonight? Let's see... with all the recent additions, I'll be cooking for... thirteen people."

He blinked at the number. "Huh. I should open a restaurant."

"I'll try convincing Sakura to stay over. She seemed distracted this morning, and I'm worried..." He considered that. "Guess I have to convince Fuji-nee somehow, so... good thing Nee-san is taking care of the finances, my budget can't handle spending so much on food all the time."

"Alright." He told himself with satisfaction, leaving the shop twenty minutes later with several bags full of food. "Anti-Fuji-nee measure taken care of-"

"Onii-chan!"

"Illya!" Shirou almost dropped the bags in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"I was bored." Illya stated happily. "So I snuck out past Sella and Onee-chan! I left Berserker there, so Onee-chan shouldn't get too angry at me or worried about you!"

Shirou relaxed a little. "So why did you come after me, then?"

"I wanted to talk with you away from the house." Illya explained. "Or do you not want to? I'll go back home if you don't want to, but you'll hate me if I do something you don't want me to."

"Sure, come on." Shirou nodded. "I get it. Sometimes I want to talk about things without risking Nee-san overhearing, so I understand."

"Alright!" Illya cheered. "Then let's go over that way! I found a small park over there earlier! Come on, I'll leave you behind if you don't hurry!"

Shirou smiled as he watched her run around. "Well... I guess it can't be helped."

* * *

Shirou grit his teeth in frustration. _How the hell did it come to this?_

Just a few minutes ago, he and Illya were having a relaxed conversation on a park bench. They spoke about what a Grail War is normally like, then what their relation is and what it feels like (Shirou proved unable to see Illya as his _older_ sister), then Shirou was about to bring up Kiritsugu when he heard a familiar yet unexpected noise nearby. He panicked and threw Illya down before shielding her, and it saved both their lives as bullets flew above them seconds later.

"You have good senses, Shirou Emiya." A dead-like voice told him. "Too bad it won't be nearly enough for you to survive."

"Wha..." Shirou looked up at his assailant and his jaw dropped. "Nee-san?"

"No." Assassin scowled. "I am Servant Assassin, not your sister. I have no reason to let you live, especially if you insist on protecting the Einzbern doll."

And she pointed her guns at them again.

"Rho Aias!" Shirou shouted, creating a thick multi-layered shield that protected them completely. Assassin looked taken aback for a second, then pulled out an old-looking gun and pointed it at the middle of the shield.

"The Thompson Contender is a very convenient weapon for me." She explained. "As a Servant, I have an unlimited amount of Origin Bullets for it."

And she fired.

"Thank you for the information."

An ornate mirror crashed into the bullet and deflected it back at the Servant, who quickly ducked.

"Caster!" Shirou exclaimed, shocked to see Lucy's Servant there.

The fox-girl stared Assassin down. "I do not feel the connection between me and Master, so this woman really is a Servant. Shirou-kun, Illya-chan, leave this place. I'll take care of her."

"But..."

"We should go, Onii-chan." Illya started pulling him away. "A fight between two Servants is too dangerous for someone like you to get involved in."

"Oh, but _you'd _be fine, huh?" Shirou snarked, but let himself get dragged away.

"My worthless other self summoned you, huh?" Assassin looked Caster over curiously. "You're not the Caster I'm familiar with... this should be interesting."

She directed the Thompson Contender at her enemy. "Now then, pre-"

She stopped mid-word and looked to one side. Caster guessed she was being ordered by her Master.

"I know, but she was right there!"

"No, Servant Caster got in the way."

"What do you mean, retreat? That's counterproductive!"

"Tch... curse you. You know how much I want her dead."

"Very well. I'll be there shortly."

"You got lucky." Assassin snarled at Caster. "If my Master wasn't a spineless worm, I'd have killed you already."

And with that she left. Caster watched her vanish in the distance, then sighed in relief.

* * *

Lucy focused, making sure she got every word Caster relayed. Once the Servant was done, Lucy grimaced and visibly quelled the urge to slap herself.

"Assassin is an idiot blinded by hatred for Illyasviel." She grunted. "She gave away her main objective in the War _and_ left us a strong hint about who her Master is."

Bazett's eyes widened. "Spineless worm... you don't think-"

"I do." Lucy nodded. "I think Zouken Matou is Assassin's Master."

"Even so... it's a long shot." Ultear looked hesitant. "We have nothing else than Assassin's words to go on. What can we do, blow up the Matou mansion?"

A glint in both Lucy and Bazett's eyes told Ultear she would have done better to remain quiet.

"We need more information." Lucy turned to her brother. "Shirou, bring Sakura over sometime soon. I want to get a few answers from her."

Shirou flinched, but nodded slowly. "Just don't hurt her too much."

"I'm hoping I won't have to." Lucy agreed. "Now then, next-"

Everyone froze when they sensed the bounded field around the mansion get triggered.

"An intruder." Lucy narrowed her eyes. "And very powerful. The prana reserves this person has are enormous. There's no doubt about it... it's a Servant."

Ultear paled. "But which one? Four of them are here, Rider's missing, Assassin is being held back... that leaves Lancer."

"Not quite." Bazett's eyes widened in horror. "There is one other."

"You think it's-" Lucy shot up. "All who can fight are to go outside now! Summon your Servants and ready your weapons! We're in for a really tough battle!"

"You got that right, mongrel." A smug voice rang out around them. "I can hear everything you say in there, so you might as well come out. I shall grant you the honor of being in the presence of the one true king!"

"Yep, it's him." Bazett gave a heavy sigh. "Gilgamesh."

Lucy stood up. "Might as well oblige him." She decided. "I wasn't expecting him to act this soon, but... no matter. Let's go, everyone!"

"Yeah!"

* * *

The Fifth Holy Grail War - Current Death Toll:

Rin Tohsaka.

24 humans serving as Gilgamesh's prana batteries.

Shinji Matou.

Chapter 9 will be out soon. Thanks for reading.

Till next time!


End file.
